Suzumiya Haruhi no Index
by Hyakimaru
Summary: After discovering the existence of a place named ‘Academy City’, the SOS brigade have to deal with an unlucky transfer student… one that might just destroy the universe if they're not careful.
1. Chapter 1

**Suzumiya Haruhi no Index  
**

Disclaimer: I don't own To aru majutsu no Index / Railgun or the Haruhi Suzumiya series... honestly, I don't…

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

Academy City, the most technologically advanced metropolis on earth, in this place there is a rather peculiar building, it has no windows, doors or anything that allows entry, and the only way to get in is with the help a powerful teleporter, the residents call it the 'Windowless Building', and it's the home of the city General Director Aleister Crowley, an ex magician now scientist who devotes his life to the research and development of Espers. Currently he is receiving a visit from a blond boy named Tsuchimikado Motoharu, a spy who specializes in selling information to pretty much anyone.

"Good morning Mr. Crowley, I have good news for you."

"What could it be? It's not every day someone comes to see me, so I hope it's not disappointing."

"Of course not, it's actually the news you have been expecting ever since you build this place… we found it."

"What? What did you find? The Holy Grail? the ark of the covenant? So many things do I seek that something so vague does not tell me anything."

"Nothing so trivial, we found the one 'thing' you've been looking for almost 100 years." He uploaded some files to the main computer so Aleister could read them inside his glass tube, and all of them were about the same thing…

"I'm afraid I don't understand the point of this, I'm not currently interested in female company, and even if I were this girl's far too young."

The blond boy chuckled "Not that, you pervert… That 'girl' as you call her is none other than the alpha and the omega, the mother of our universe… "

"What? You mean to tell me that this girl is God… " Aleister laughed

"You can laugh all you want, but several other esper agencies are already watching her, and even the Integrated Data Sentient Entity has sent an agent to keep her on check."

Suddenly Mr. Crowley got serious, honestly he could care less of what the other agencies were doing, but if the Integrated Data Sentient Entity was interested in this girl then so was he.

"What is your price?"

"I want the marriage laws in Academy City to allow relationships between non blood related siblings."

"Excellent, they will be changed… now hand it over."

The boy uploaded even more data into the computer, as he read it, Aleister chuckled creepily, and when he finished, he looked at Tsuchimikado once again.

"This data is magnificent, finally the ultimate esper is within my grasp."

"Ah? What do you mean? All the other agencies I've been in contact with think that she's God."

Aleister chuckled "Those fools wouldn't recognize a real god even if they accidently summoned one… I won't go into details, but I'll give you a short explanation of my theory, now I suppose you're familiar with the concept of personal reality?"

"Of course I have to learn that crap in school every day. It's the way espers manipulate reality by projecting their own into the real world."

"Yes, now imagine if there was an esper whose personal reality expanded across the entire universe, maybe even unconsciously, he could theoretically speaking change anything he wanted to fit all of his whims… easily mistook for a god, don't you think?"

"And you think our girl here is something like that?"

"Yes, of course it's nothing but conjecture at this point, but it can be proven… it will be proven."

Tsuchimikado sweat dropped, maybe selling this information to him was not a good idea after all… "What do you mean?"

"You see my dear triple agent, if my theory is correct… if we were to negate the powers of said esper then his influence over the universe would end and reality would return to 'normal'."

"But if you're wrong the entire universe could disappear."

"Yes that's a possibility… one that makes this whole experiment far more interesting."

Motoharu sighed "Whatever… anyway mind if I ask how are you going to negate the powers of someone like that… wait a minute… you don't mean… Kamiyan?"

"Exactly… in order to destroy that 'god' of yours, the best way is to use his natural enemy, something that is neither scientific nor magical, and your friend possesses such a thing… the imagine breaker."

Aleister chuckled, the boy took this as his signal to leave… when he was gone Crowley began making preparations, his experiment had to be carried out delicately, there were far too many eyes on this girl and one mistake could cause the Integrated Data Sentient Entity or the Time Travelers Committee to take action… and they were not the kind of enemies he wanted to have… at least not yet.

**A few days later:**

It was yet another normal day in North High… well about as normal as it could be with Suzumiya Haruhi around, there were still a few minutes before homeroom started, and she was now showing me her newest obsession.

"Look at this Kyon! Someone dropped it in front of the principal's office."

The pamphlet she had on her hands was about someplace named Academy City, it seemed like one of those institutions that specialized in maximizing the potential of genius students.

"What's that? Are you thinking of changing schools?... Can't blame you, that place makes this look like a dump."

"Don't be stupid Kyon, do you honestly believe they'd build one entire city just for honor students to play around? It's obviously just a cover up. "

Haruhi's eyes shined… usually this could be classified into another misuse of her hyperactive imagination, but to be honest I think this time she actually has a point.

"A cover up for what exactly?"

"How I'm supposed to know that? Maybe there is a training facility for espers… Yes that's it! they have schools that teaches people how to use their personal abilities, so they can fight against the forces of evil magicians around the world, maybe they even have a factory that mass produces clones of one the most powerful espers in the city… it all makes perfect sense!"

Your delusions are the only things that make sense... It's what I wanted to say, but I'm not that brave… Or stupid… Seriously, just leave it to her to blow anything way out of proportion.

"So, what does that have to do with us? Is the SOS brigade going to visit that place or something?"

"That was the plan, but they don't allow visitors, and to make matters worse the security is as tight as it can be… They are really hiding something big over there."

While I would love to know just who are 'they', asking her about it would probably earn me a long speech about every suspicious institution she knew in the whole world.

"At this rate the only way we can find out what's going on inside that city would be if an exchange student suddenly arrived from there."

Knowing Haruhi she probably expected the teacher to come into the classroom and say something like…

"Everyone, we've got a new student with us today, he comes from a place named Academy City, so please give him a nice welcome."

Or something like that… wait that wasn't me… crap!

"Good morning, my name is Kamijou Touma… I like helping people, and giving long speeches while I do, nice to meet you."

The transfer student was just like your regular guy, well except for his spiky hair that looked like it came out of some weird sci-fi novel or something… I turned around to see Haruhi and of course she was looking at the new guy as if she just found a treasure buried in her backyard.

"Ok, Touma kun, you can sit over there, right next to Suzumiya san."

Poor transfer student has the world worst luck, oh well, at the very least I hope Haruhi can contain her excitement until school is over… And unfortunately she could only hold it till lunch break, the guy was surrounded by practically every girl in the class minus Haruhi, all of them far too excited meet him, when she pushed them all away and stared at him directly in the eyes.

"You… Touma kun was it?"

Typical of her, she hasn't even introduced herself properly and is already treating him like they're drinking buddies or something.

"Yes… What is it? Suzumiya san right?"

"You come from Academy City correct? Tell me what kind of shady business they have in that place… Esper development programs, cloning, vampires, magic? "

The guy remained quiet and looked at her like she were crazy… Haruhi probably interpreted this gesture as if he was having a flashback…

"Kamijou chan, while your transfer from this school is just too sudden and I have to admit I'm sad to see you go. The most important thing Sensei has to say to you is… you cannot talk about any of the city secrets in the outside world… something terrible will happen if you do."

Or something like that, probably said by a pink haired teacher that looked far too young for her age.

"No… it's a normal city, just like any other…"

He was sweating bullets… a perfectly normal reaction for being asked something like that out of the blue, Haruhi however didn't seem to believe him.

"Come on, don't lie…"

In that instant, the bell rang indicating the end of lunch break,so she had no choice but to return to her seat while he breathed a sight of relief after just being saved by the bell.

Haruhi spend the rest of the day glaring daggers at the poor guy, he looked really uncomfortable and it seemed like he was trying to ignore her but to no avail… when school was over, Touma left the classroom fast and quietly, he probably didn't want to associate with her more than it was needed… if only I had that much common sense… Anyway, unfortunately for him, she had anticipated this reaction and was waiting for him in the hallway.

"Hey Touma kun, you still haven't answered my question… tell me about the secrets of Academy City!"

He was surprised and I could hear he whispered something to himself… I think he said "Such misfortune" or something along those lines.

"There is really nothing weird about that place, the only thing that's different from here is that technology is more advanced over there… like cleaning robots and stuff like that."

Haruhi stared at him for a while, it seemed like she was analyzing every single detail on his face and then she just sighed.

"Oh well… I suppose someone as plain looking as you wouldn't know anything… seriously I got all excited when a transfer student came from Academy City at such a perfect time, and in the end it turned out to be someone so… 'Normal' such misfortune!"

She went on with her rant for a while…

"Erhm… can I go now?"

"Yes, sure go home already."

The transfer student made a little bow and walked away as quickly as he could, meanwhile Haruhi just stood there ranting for a while before she turned to me.

"Well Kyon, since that didn't work, we're going to use plan 'B', I'm going to find out the requirements for the test to study in Academy City, I mean if we all take the exam at least one of us (definitely not you) has to be accepted."

Before I had a chance to say anything back at her, she just ran off in the direction of the principal's office; all alone in the hallway, I decided the best thing to do would be going to the club room, Haruhi would kill me if I went home without her permission. Once there I couldn't help but notice that something seemed… off… Asahina san was extremely nervous and almost dropped the teapot twice, Koizumi was all quiet thinking by himself near the window and Nagato… well while for a common observer she would appear to be reading as she always does, one good look at her face would reveal that her typically unexpressive mouth was perhaps by less than a millimeter… arching downwards.

"Ok… Could anybody tell me what's wrong with you people?"

It seemed my question fell on deaf ears and just when I was about to press the issue, the door of the room was burst open by none other than miss Suzumiya herself.

"I can't believe they won't let us go to that place, they won't even let me see the requisites for taking the acceptance test; it's ridiculous!"

Haruhi sudden entrance was received as normal, Asahina san quickly served her tea as she sat on her usual chair, Nagato just kept reading as if nothing happened, Koizumi quickly dropped his serious face for his regular one, and me… well I'm already used to this kind of thing so it didn't affect me.

"What's wrong Suzumiya san? What do you mean with 'that place'?"

"Oh yeah, Koizumi kun, I haven't said anything to you guys so only Kyon (who just earned a punishment for not telling anyone) should know what I meant."

"Why you…? how could I know I had to do that?"

"Silence! You should always inform anything your leader says to the rest of the brigade… Anyway as I was saying before I got interrupted, I was talking about Academy City…"

As soon as she named that place, all the other occupants in the room got unusually … frightened, Asahina san looked as if she just saw a ghost, Koizumi got all serious again and Nagato's mouth arched a little more… it was as if Haruhi just proclaimed she knew about her powers or something like that.

"Seriously, that city is just reeking with supernatural phenomenon that we are not seeing because they won't let us in!"

"Calm down Suzumiya san, there is probably a good reason they don't allow visitors in that place… Maybe is dangerous or something"

Now this was interesting, this was the first time in the entire time I've been hanging out with these people that Koizumi didn't kiss Haruhi's behind like his life depended on it… that could only mean one thing, whatever was inside that city, was really and I mean **really** bad.

"Yeah, you're probably right… anyway, I'm tired so we're going to end this meeting early today, and to make up for the lost time we're going to meet this Sunday; it'll be the same as usual, so don't be late!"

She glared at me, took all her stuff and left the room in a hurry… when she closed the door I finally had the opportunity to get some clarification, I decided to ask Koizumi, Asahina san would act her usual 'classified information' routine, and I probably wouldn't understand anything Nagato said to me anyway.

"So Koizumi tell me… just what is inside that city? and why are you all anxious?"

He got uncomfortably close to me before speaking… Seriously? Why does this guy ignore the simple concept of 'personal space'?

"Academy City is as you probably imagine a really special place… Now about the specifics of what they do there, and the reason that I look troubled… Well, I'd like if we could hold that conversation until I confirmed something."

"Ok… if you don't want to talk, I guess I'll have to wait."

"Good, now that's settled I'll take my leave as well, there are some things I need to investigate and it's getting late."

After that he left the room… Oh well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried but whatever is happening can't possibly be **that **bad… Right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

A couple of days had passed since the transfer student arrived, now while Haruhi described him as normal and one look at him would definitely give anyone that impression, he did seemed to have an special ability… he was really popular with the girls and literally 1/10th of the school female population had their sight on this guy… and he looked like he wasn't even trying… it was insane! (I take back what I said about him being unlucky). For that reason Taniguchi invited him to join our group hoping that some of his aura would rub on him, Touma accepted since he apparently remind him of someone he knew back in his old home (he mumbled something about blue hair and piercings).

"Touma kun, why did you get transferred to this school? Your family had to move out or something?"

"Nah, nothing like that, I was selected in some random exchange program I didn't even know I was in, once I realized, it was too late and it couldn't be helped… it's supposed to be just for a few months though."

"Does that mean that someone from our school is in Academy City right now? I wonder who could that be?"

Suddenly Taniguchi entered the classroom, he looked excited for some reason.

"Guys, you won't believe what I just saw."

We just looked at him, awaiting for whatever stupid thing he had to say.

"While I was on my way to the classroom, I caught a glimpse of… a blue haired nun that looked like Jun Watarase, you know from that anime 'Happiness'."

Both me and Kunikida just stared at him like he was crazy while Touma sweat dropped for some reason.

"I was pretty surprised, it is the first time I see a girl like that, she was beautiful… AA material but I need a better look to make sure she is not… you know."

"So… have you been taking some weird medications lately?"

"No… wait a minute… you guys don't believe me?"

Both me and Kunikida nodded, it was just too weird why would a nun be on this school in the first place… one that looked like that character of all people… by the way, Touma had excused himself and left the classroom in a hurry since he had to go to the bathroom.

"Ok… I'll prove it to you, I'm going to snap a picture of that nun and rub it in your faces… you guys just wait!"

After that Taniguchi left the classroom… oh well I just hope that idiot doesn't get himself in trouble… a few minutes later, right before homeroom started, Haruhi passed me a note…

_"I have already decided your punishment, today you shall accompany me in a secret mission after school, you better wait for me or else…"_

I sighed accepting my fate, to be honest since today was Saturday, the thing I wanted to do the least was wasting the afternoon following Haruhi around, but if I didn't do as she said, the consequences would be far worse; anyway the rest of the day went normally, Touma came back to the classroom a few minutes after class started and Taniguchi just didn't come back until school was over; he was unable to obtain a picture of the nun.

"I swear to god… I saw her… but she disappeared… no one believes me… but it's true she was there… "

He was almost crying and Kunikida was comforting him… not a nice scene to be honest.

"Man… calm yourself… you were probably just tired this morning and thought you saw a nun or something… come on, just go home for today and rest"

"Yeah, you're right… I'll get something to drink in the cafeteria and go home."

Taniguchi took his stuff and left the classroom.

**On the school cafeteria.**

The boy bought a drink from a machine, sat on a nearby table and rested his head against it.

"You seem troubled."

"Yes, well I've had the worst possible day, I saw something amazing but nobody believed me and now I'm starting to think I'm crazy myself."

"Well… I don't know what you saw, but you seem sincere so I believe you, now don't get discouraged as God always smile to those who try hard."

"Thanks… I feel a lot better now…" He raised his head to see who had been speaking to and found a blue haired nun looking at him.

"Ok, I'm glad to be of help… now if you excuse me I must go."

"No, wait!" he tried to grab his camera "What do you mean out of battery?" then he tried his cellphone "Crap… I've to erase some data… there…" he turned around finally ready to take a picture and… nothing, the nun had left the room a while ago. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

**Back in the classroom.**

I thought I heard the voice of Taniguchi screaming… but I didn't have time to wonder about that as Haruhi finally arrived.

"Ok Kyon, ready for our secret mission?"

"How can I be ready when you haven't even told me what we're going to do?"

"Well today we'll be following the transfer student around."

"What? I thought you said he was normal."

"Of course he looks normal, they obviously try to fool you into thinking they are normal so that you don't become suspicious; I just said that so he wouldn't suspect me."

"I think you were too late for that."

"Whatever Kyon… let's go, he'll go away if we stay here any longer."

We quickly made our way towards the entrance but it was too late, Touma's shoe locker was empty, signaling he had already gone home.

"Crap… oh well, I guess we're gonna have to try again on Monday… seriously Kyon, if only you would have moved faster we would have caught him…"

"What are you talking about, you're the one that took her sweet time while I waited for you in the classroom."

"That couldn't be helped… " Haruhi blushed a little and whispered "…I had to go to the bathroom…" then she suddenly opened her eyes as wide as it was possible and pointed behind me"…never mind that Kyon look at that!"

I turned around to see what it was and found what appeared to be a girl in a nun habit… wait a minute, does that mean that idiot was right, that there really was a nun in our school… I can't believe it! Haruhi approached her slowly and when she was only a couple of meters away, suddenly the girl fell on the floor unconscious, we both ran to her side as quickly as we could.

"Hey sister, what's wrong? … hey please answer me!"

We tried shaking her but we got no response, just as I was getting ready to go get the school nurse, we heard a horrible roar that remind me of that intro they used in old American films.

"I'm hungry…"

The nun said quietly and fell unconscious again.

**A few hours later…**

"Well Haruhi, I've to admit… I never thought you'd ever found one."

"See, I told you that if we keep searching, we'd eventually find a supernatural phenomenon; it was only a matter of time."

"Yeah, I had my doubts at first, but now I'm sure… there is just no way this girl is a normal human."

In front of us, there was what appeared to be a nun eating one bowl of ramen and besides her several towers of bowls that were at least half a meter tall each.

"I've a theory that she actually has a portal to a different dimension in her tummy… or maybe it's a black hole…"

"Never mind that, just tell me how are we going to pay for all this stuff… wait I hope you're not thinking in putting the tab on me."

"Nah… that won't be necessary… look at that."

Haruhi pointed at a sign that read _"If you can eat 20 bowls of ramen, your food is on the house"_ and below that was the owner of the place crying and whining about 'the foreigner with the 8 stomachs'.

"Ah… thanks for the food! "

The nun stretched her arms and fell back on the chair, it seemed that she finally had enough…

"Really thank you… you saved my life, I honestly thought I was a goner for sure back then."

"Never mind that, it was our duty to help a person in trouble!" Haruhi declared in her typical egocentric fashion, completely forgetting that I was the one that carried her here.

"But seriously, what was a sister doing in our school?"

"Well, I got bored in the house and went to pay Touma a visit, he told me to go home, but I decided to wait for him… but I missed him when the bell rang and since I hadn't eaten anything since this morning…"

She pouted, the poor thing looked like she was going to cry… wait a minute.

"Touma… Are you a friend of Touma kun?"

Suddenly Haruhi got her face really close to her and while I couldn't see them, her eyes were definitely shining with excitement right now.

"Yeah… we live together, a long time ago he saved me from some bad guys and now I try to help him however I can."

To be honest with her appetite I could see her causing more trouble than helping… but the way she said those words earlier… it was clear that she really cared for him.

"If you live with him, does that mean that you come from Academy City?"

"Yes… what about it?"

Haruhi made a 'bingo' pose and got even closer to her.

"Then, can you tell us about that place? Anything will do"

The nun took a little time before responding.

"Sorry… I promised Touma that I wouldn't talk about the city or him or anything else; I would love to grant your request since you saved me, but as a servant of our lord I cannot break any vows I've made."

Both the nun and Haruhi stared at each other for a while.

"Ok… I give up." Haruhi sighed and returned back to her seat.

"Thanks… well I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it's getting late and I don't want Touma to worry about me…"

"It's ok I understand… hmmm."

"I'm Index Librorum Prohibitorum, nice to meet you."

"Yeah… Index chan, I'm Haruhi and the guy with the boring face beside me is Kyon, nice to meet you too."

"Thanks for saving me again Haruhi san, Kyon kun… bye bye" The nun nodded and quickly left the place.

Haruhi watched her off for a while and then sighed "Well… that wasn't a waste of time as I thought I'd be."

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious Kyon, if he made Index chan promise that she wouldn't talk about anything… that means he is hiding something."

"Maybe he just doesn't want people meddling into his private life?"

"Seriously, how innocent can you be? Anyway, we'll try following him again on Monday."

"Are we really going to do this? I mean stalking is a crime you know?"

"We're not staking… ok maybe a little but it doesn't matter."

For some reason I've had the feeling that if worse comes to worse she'll put all the blame on me… "He made me do it!" yep, I can definitely see her doing that.

"Anyway Kyon, I've to go now; remember don't be late tomorrow… bye!"

"Bye…"

After that Haruhi just ran off back to her home, of course I decided to do the same… in my way back I spotted Touma kun; he looked scared for some reason and was walking really fast towards the river… now it was probably because of Haruhi's earlier words, but for some reason I decided to follow him secretly.

We arrived on the river bed shortly after, it was already quite late and there was no one around so I got a little nervous and hid behind a nearby trashcan… suddenly he turned around and looked in my direction.

"I know you're following me… come out already."

Crap he found me… now while I was making excuses in my mind, a girl that seemed to be in middle school walked right past me probably without even noticing I was there, she had short brown hair and a school uniform that I never seen before… by all means a regular looking girl, quite cute even… but I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something… dangerous about her… she walked to where Touma was and stood about ten meters away from him.

"I finally found you… you know that was really sneaky of you; quitting while you're ahead."

Touma scratched the back of his head and sighed "I knew it was you… Biri Biri."

"Hey… what's with that face? And isn't about time you started calling me by my name?"

"I'm sorry, Mikoto sama…" he bowed" now would you mind telling me just what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? You idiot, I've come to settle our score once and for all! "

'Settle their score?' funny I've never would have thought that Touma was the kind of person to pick fights with little girls… but hey who knows maybe they're talking about card games or something.

"Ah? Again… seriously coming all the way here just for that; haven't we 'settled our score' like a million times already?"

"Shut up! It's not over until I win!"

Now I know Haruhi's imagination is really starting to rub on me… I could swear there were sparks coming out of her just now… anyway, she moved a couple of step closer towards him.

"Wait… don't you remember, you can't use your ability outside of the city without permission!"

"As if I care, prepare yourself!"

The girl pulled out a coin form her pocket, flipped in the air and when she was about to pick it up, suddenly there was lighting around her hand and a beam of energy came out in the direction where Touma was… What the hell! The beam moved towards him at enormous speed… is that guy crazy? He's gonna die if he doesn't move, yet all he's doing is waving his hands as if trying to grab it and… he did… he opened his hand and the coin fell on the floor, apparently undamaged.

"Seriously you should know already that doesn't work with… "

The girl had disappeared… suddenly a bolt of lightning struck a nearby electric pole causing the lights of the entire city to go down… in the middle of this darkness a little flash appeared beside Touma's blind side and you could see the girl ready to shot again, he turned around as fast as he could grabbing the beam of energy only by a few milliseconds…then it was dark again.

A few seconds later the lights returned and I could see Touma holding the girl as if he was patting her head, she was struggling but for some reason it seemed she was unable to create more lighting.

"Come on Birii Biri are you crazy? Causing a blackout just for this? We're not in Academy City anymore you know!"

The girl stopped moving and looked at him pouting and with a few tears on her eyes, her voice sounded weak.

"Why did you leave? You didn't even say goodbye to me… I wouldn't have known you were gone if your blond friend hadn't told me... I even had to hack the city's network to found where you'd gone… jerk."

Touma sighed and smiled "Sorry, I had to leave for a few reasons, but I'll be back in a few months and well… I tried to contact you but you know I can't visit you in your dorm and I don't have your phone number or anything."

He took his hand off her head.

"Is that true?"

"Yes, honestly."

She blushed and turned her face away from him.

"Well I forgive you… but as punishment I'll give you my email and you'll have to write me every week, I might also come to visit you every now and then."

"Of course, now come on I'll…"

"ONEESAMA!"

Suddenly another girl just appeared in the sky and fell on top of the lighting girl (Mikoto was her name I believe), she had twin ponytails and wore the same uniform as the other girl.

"I finally found you; I was worried since you left as soon as we arrived, but…"

She stopped mid sentence and glared at Touma.

"Onesama… why is this person here? Don't tell me the reason we came here was just so you could have a date with him?"

Mikoto blushed and got shy all of the sudden "What are you talking about Kuroko? I just had some business with him that I had to take care of and…"

The girl with the ponytails glared at her "Seriously Onesama, making us come all the way to this place just so you could meet this man… and to leave without telling us, you know Saten san and Uiharu were really worried too…"

Mikoto lowered her head "Well, I'm sorry but…"

"No buts, we're going back to the hotel right now!"

She grabbed Mikoto by her arm "No wait! I still haven't given him my mail…" and just like that they were gone… they literally just disappeared into thin air.

Touma sighed as if this was a normal scene "Seriously; of all the persons to run into… Crap, it's that late! Index must be starving by now… such misfortune!"

He turned around and ran off towards what I presume was the direction of his house... as soon as he was out of sight my knees gave in, I was completely shocked from the previous scene… you would have figured out that I would be used to this kind of thing by now, but this whole thing was just too surreal… even for me.

I remained immobile for a few minutes trying to assimilate what I just witnessed when my cell phone rang; I snapped out of it and pick it up, not even bothering to see who it was.

"Hello, Kyon kun?"

"Asahina san, it's that you?"

"Kyon kun, thank god, I was so worried since that black out happened so suddenly and I couldn't contact you because the phone lines collapsed… are you ok?"

"Yeah… I'm fine… I think, anyway… what can I do for you?"

"Well Koizumi kun told me to call you so we could meet, apparently he found out something important and he wants to tell us about it."

"I'm guessing it's in the same place as usual right?"

"Right"

"Ok… I'll be there in ten minutes."

**Ten minutes later:**

I arrived at the plaza and found that everyone else had already got there, last time I was here this late was because of that time loop that happened back in august… god I hope it's not something like that again. As soon as I said hi to everyone, Koizumi got in the middle of the group.

"I supposed you're all wondering why I called you here, as you can imagine is about the exchange student that arrived earlier this week but before I tell you what I found, Kyon kun I still owe you an explanation."

He turned his sight towards me.

"Earlier this week you ask me about Academy City, back then I refused to answer as I hoped that explanation would be unnecessary, but unfortunately that is not the case… You see Academy City is a place where they research and develop espers, however their training programs are a little more advanced than the one used in the organization I'm in."

"What do you mean just a little? I just saw what one of those espers can do and no offense but the difference was pretty big."

I snapped a little, to be honest I had already deduced most of this stuff thanks to the previous incident so his explanation kind of rubbed me in the wrong way… Koizumi expression changed, now he seemed curious.

"You saw an Esper from that place? Mind telling us about that Kyon kun?"

"Well you see…"

I told them everything that happened since this afternoon, after all we had gone through I had learned that you could always count with my fellow brigade members in stuff like this.

"… and then just like that, both girls disappeared into thin air."

I finished my story a little agitated, but it really felt great to let that out of my chest.

"I see… well this further confirms what I feared the worse… the thing is that while Academy City is mainly a scientific place, lately it has become the gathering point for a dangerous faction that combines many powerful members of several science and magic associations around the world, the reason all these people got together is because of their leader, one man that is rumored can destroy any supernatural phenomenon."

"Ok… and what does that has to do with anything."

Koizumi got serious all of the sudden.

"You don't get it, this person can supposedly destroy anything supernatural, now what would you think it could happen if he were to destroy Suzumiya san powers?"

Koizumi took a pause before continuing.

"So… don't leave me hanging; what would happen?"

"The truth is that just like we can't determine exactly what is Suzumiya san, we can't determine what would happen either, but there is a risk the universe itself could be altered or maybe even completely destroyed"

Well that did sounded really bad but…

"I understand… but are you sure the leader of that organization is here in this town?"

"Yes and closer that you might think, you see Kyon kun, the organization is known in the underworld as the Kamijou Clout… and their leader in none other than Kamijou Touma."

"What the… that can't be!"

"Why? You should know well that looks can be deceiving."

"Of course I know that but… are you really sure it's him?"

"Yes, the organization checked with our informant and he's positive, but to be sure I asked Nagato san to scan him for any anomaly and well…as for the results.

He turned around and faced Nagato.

"The result of the investigation was inconclusive, every time we tried to run an analysis on him, the scan would proceed as usual until we reach a certain percentage, then it would revert itself completely losing all the progress made so far … the only conclusion we can draw from this is that Kamijou Touma has the ability to erase and or manipulate data that comes into contact with him."

"See this falls in line with the ability to destroy supernatural phenomenon and point towards him being the leader, there is also the person you said caused the blackout, she is probably a member of the clout… Misaka Mikoto, the third stronger esper in the world. "

I swallowed… I've already seen how dangerous she can be, so I don't really want to be her enemy and to think there were two other persons stronger than her.

"So, what are you planning to do…? Wait you don't mean…"

"I'm afraid such methods are not a good idea, if we were to harm Kamijou Touma we'll definitely be attacked by members of the clout and if a confrontation took place, I doubt we could keep Suzumiya san in the dark about it…plus there's still something I need to check."

"What is it?"

"The reason for his presence, I mean why is he here? I doubt that destroying Suzumiya san's powers is his objective or else he would have done so already… so I'd like to investigate this matter a little further, I've already made arrangements to meet personally with our informant tomorrow, I think I'll be able to get a few answer out of him."

After saying all this Koizumi took a little pause.

"Now, I know all this information might be hard to process so I'd like if we could meet again tomorrow, once we have more data about Kamijou Touma, we'll have a better idea on how to proceed"

That sounded reasonable enough, but while his explanation made sense so far, there was still something that was bothering me.

"Wait a minute, I understand the risk of Touma destroying Haruhi's power… but what about you, or Asahina san or Nagato, you said he could destroy any supernatural phenomenon and you guys fall into that category."

"Well, I'm a normal human outside of a closed space and so is Asahina san since her time travel is made using a machine, so I think we should be fine; but Nagato san…"

If I understood what Nagato was correctly, she was a humanoid interface made completely out of data, and she just said that Touma has the ability to erase said data, so… no I can't be negative, nothing will happen to her, she'll be fine... still I couldn't hold my anxiety and turned to see her directly.

"Nagato…"

She looked just like usual, but for some reason she pointed at a nearby building.

"We're being watched."

We all turned around as fast as we could and I could catch a glimpse of a girl in the roof… she looked just like that Mikoto girl from earlier but with night vision goggles on her head… still there was something different about her, Mikoto was full of life and she had this energetic aura around her, but this one… her eyes were blank and her expression remind me of Nagato, so while she was exactly like Mikoto I don't think they're the same person… maybe it's her sister or something.

"Crap… I got careless."

Koizumi bit his thumb a little

"Well, I believe it's best if we end our meeting right now; I hope we can meet again tomorrow but we might need to find a new place to do so."

After that we all parted ways… finally I get to sleep, so many things have happened today… a little nun with a huge appetite, a lighting girl causing a blackout because she felt like it and of course the possibility of the universe being destroyed… I needed to rest; hopefully I can sleep till late tomorrow…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"Crap… I'm late! …Haruhi is going to kill this time for sure."

It was already way past our meeting time, unfortunately I was so disturbed by yesterday events that I didn't noticed my cell was out of battery and to make matters worse my brand new alarm clock got fried during the blackout… and to think Haruhi specifically told us not to be late… I'm so dead.

When I arrived at the usual place, I was surprised to find out Asahina san all by herself sitting on a nearby bench.

"Morning Asahina san."

"Good morning Kyon kun, How are you?"

"I'm fine thanks… where is everybody?"

"Well, Suzumiya san got tired of waiting for you, so she left me here and went searching with Nagato san and Koizumi kun."

I swallowed "When was that?"

"About two hours ago… "

Two hours, is it really that late? I'm so screwed.

"…She also told me to give you a message when you arrived."

"What was it?"

"Write your will…"

I knew it she was pissed… oh well at least I get to spend my last moments with a beautiful girl like Asahina san… I sat on the bench and looked at her, she turned around and showed me her angelic smile… ah… such gorgeous thing almost made me forget that I was going to be killed soon.

"Kyon kun; about what Koizumi kun said yesterday… what do you think about that?"

I sighed and lowered my gaze toward the ground.

"To be honest I don't know what to think, I was kind of scared at first, but then I thought that this was just another weird incident caused by Haruhi and that the risk of the universe getting destroyed it's nothing new, so I feel better about that."

I raised my head a little bit and held it with my hand.

"But still I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched… you know that girl that was spying us yesterday, I think I must be going crazy because I keep seeing her everywhere, I swear I saw her at least 5 times on my way here… it's like there are hundreds of them and that's not possible… I think… anyway I'm just not used to this kind of pressure so it's been taking its toll on me."

Asahina san closed her eyes for a second and then spoke to me.

"Calm down… you know I was kind of scared too when I first saw 'Classified information' but then I found out that 'Classified information' helped during 'Classified information' and also 'Classified information' and several other mayors 'Classified information' so I realized that 'Classified information' were not bad and I felt a lot better."

You know while I couldn't understand a thing about what she just said, her soothing voice managed to make me feel better.

"Thank you… You know Asahina san, I don't think the universe will get destroyed…"

She looked at me puzzled

"… because then you couldn't possibly be here with me."

She blushed a little and looked away from me.

"I'm afraid that's not enough proof it could be a 'Classified information' or 'Classified information' like Dr. 'Classified information' said and…"

"Excuse me."

Asahina san rather useless explanation was cut short. We both turned around and found a girl that seemed to have flowers growing out of her head.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I got separated from my group and I was wondering if you could tell me…"

As the girl was speaking, Asahina san got up from her seat and inspected the flowers on her head, the girl sweat dropped and got kind of nervous.

"Excuse me… ehm…"

"So pretty… and they look so fresh… how do you keep them like this?"

Asahina san was behind the girl with her nose close to the flowers so she could smell them.

"Well… actually is quite simple I…"

"Uiharu!"

"Mikuru chan!"

Suddenly the back of both girls' skirts flew up high in the air, exposing their underwear to everyone but me that was sitting right in front of them… much to my own disappointment.

"I've got a little bear with a heart in the background."

"…And I got pink water droplets"

"Kyaaaah!" Both girls yelled at the same time and behind them I could see another pair, my dear leader and future murder Suzumiya Haruhi and another girl with black long hair and a playful grin, they high fived each other and laughed while Asahina san fell into the floor almost crying and the other girl blushed badly and turned around as fast as she could.

"Saten san, are you crazy? How could you do that? You promised that you wouldn't do stuff like that anymore!"

"I'm sorry Uiharu, I just got a little too excited and couldn't help myself… oh well it's your punishment for getting lost."

"But you were the one that got lost…"

The girl with the flowers moved her arms as if trying to hit her while she was blushing and crying at the same time and the other girl just waved her hand sideways with a huge grin on her face… they kind of looked like a comedy duo… while the two girls continued with their rambling, Haruhi got closer to me, she looked really happy and even had a beautiful smile on her face; maybe I'm lucky and she forgot about the whole punishment thing.

"I'm surprised that you're brave enough to show your face in front of me… although knowing you it's probably stupidity."

Should've known better… as if she is going to miss a chance to torture me.

"Look, I'm sorry I'm late but the blackout last night…"

"Silence, I'm not interested in your excuses… I was thinking of a proper punishment for you, but since I'm in a good mood, I'm going to forgive you for today and you'll have a double penalty tomorrow."

Haruhi stood there with her arms crossed and a smile that reminded me of something you'd see on a dictator special on T.V.

"Whatever" I sighed "… so who's your new friend? And why do you go around flipping innocent girls' skirts together?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't introduced you guys yet…"

She called the long haired girl and both her and her friend stopped their show and turned around.

"Saten chan, this are the rest of my friends, the beautiful girl that just makes you want to hug her is Mikuru chan and the other one that looks like he's useless is Kyon."

"Hi, nice to meet you guys, I'm Ruiko Saten and this is my friend Kazari Uiharu."

Both girls bowed politely.

"I'm Asahina Mikuru nice to meet you too."

Asahina san also bowed, now it was my turn to introduce myself.

"And I'm…"

"Ah… Koizumi kun, Yuki, the surprise attack went just as planned. "

Haruhi completely ignored me and went to talk to Koizumi and Nagato who just recently arrived on the scene.

Once the whole group was complete, someone finally had the decency to tell me what was going on, it seemed that during their search they met this Saten girl, she was visiting our town for some reason and got separated from her group that included Uiharu san. For what I could tell Haruhi and her must have really clicked with each other because they were like best friends already…

"So Haruhi san, tell me which side of a chocolate cornet do you eat first?"

"I don't know, I never paid any attention to that, but I think I'd rather start with the front so that the chocolate won't spill."

"But that's no good; you have to eat the back first…"

Funny… I never thought I'd ever see a scene like this… Haruhi acting like a normal person and even talking about the pointless boring things girls usually talk about…that was really out of character for her.

"Unusual isn't it, she's been like that even since she met that girl…"

Koizumi had once again getting uncomfortably close to me during while I was distracted… seriously it was annoying at first but now it's getting kind of creepy.

"…But you know, she does look really happy, this'll certainly help diminishing the number of closed spaces."

"Tell me the truth, is she a member of your organization?"

Koizumi closed his eyes and waved his head sideways with that annoying smile that I hate so much.

"No, to be honest I was pretty surprised myself when she showed up, she literally came out of nowhere and even though Suzumiya san was kind of cold to her at first, in just a few minutes she managed to earn her friendship and trust and you should know that's not an easy task."

"It must be because they share an interest in sexual harassment."

He chuckled "Maybe you're right… anyway, I still have my doubts about her story, there is little to no reason to visit our town for tourism and even if she says it was because of a friend I have trouble believing that, so I have reasons to suspect her, but…"

He took a little break before continuing.

"…But, I don't think that's the case, she's probably just the kind of person that is good in getting people to open up to her, at least that's what I want to believe."

"I see your point… Haruhi doesn't really have many friends beside us (if at all) and even then she barely talks to us about anything not related to the brigade activities, so having Saten san as a friend is a really good thing that might even get her to accept and embrace reality the way it is."

"Well I do think there is one of us she treats different than the rest… but for the most part, yes you're correct."

To be honest seeing Haruhi like this, being all buddy buddy with Saten san and even talking with her, Uiharu san and Asahina san (who also seemed to be taking a liking with each other, probably because they shared the same pain) … It's almost like she was just your regular school girl.

"See all she needed was a friend she could talk to, kind of simple really."

"Yeah, you're probably right…"

"By the way, who do you think she treats dif…"

"Hey Kyon, I just made a dare with Saten chan, we're going to the cafe to see who can eat the most chocolate cornets… you're paying of course."

"What? Why? I thought you said I was forgiven for today."

"That was only the punishment for being really late; the penalty for arriving last is a different thing."

I sighed… and here I thought that maybe something good could happen to me today… how naïve.

"Oh well, I suppose I still have some more of my life savings to waste but, shouldn't we be looking for the rest of Saten san's group?"

Saten san looked at me with an 'I'm sorry' expression on her face.

"Don't worry about that, we agreed that in case we got separated we'd meet back on the train station in the afternoon and those two can definitely take care of themselves, so it's ok… anyway Kyon san thank you for paying for our meal today."

She and Uiharu bowed together… wait a minute a meal, I thought they were going to eat pastries… ah whatever let's just get this over with already.

**About an hour later:**

"… I can't eat anymore…"

"Victory!" Haruhi stood up and made a 'V' sign with her fingers as celebration.

Saten san's head fell back on her chair looking sick; their contest had ended with Haruhi victory and with my life savings as well.

"Suzumiya san, you're amazing, I didn't thought someone could eat that much." Uiharu was looking at Haruhi amazed.

"That's nothing, you should've seen that girl we met yesterday, she ate so much that the ramen stand we were in went bankrupt and all the other restaurants in the city canceled their free eating promotions."

"Wow… that is amazing; she must have been really fat." Saten san rejoined the conversation after taking a little break.

"Not at all, she had about the same proportions as Yuki… maybe even a little smaller"

"No way! That can't be true."

"It is true; Kyon can verify my story if you don't believe me and it's officially the first supernatural phenomenon that the SOS brigade was able to discover."

Saten looked at me and I nodded… Uiharu for her part tilted her head sideways with a puzzled expression.

"SOS brigade…?"

"Ah yeah, I haven't explained you about us yet; the SOS brigade is an organization that specializes in searching for all the weird mysteries and unexplainable things that happen in the world; we're all members, I'm the leader and Koizumi kun is the vice president."

"That sounds pretty fun, what other things have you found out?" It seemed Saten san had taken an interest on the brigade.

"Not much, there were a few things, but they all end up being fake at the end."

Haruhi lowered her head and for a while I could see she was kind of sad… I never thought about this, but she really wished to find something supernatural (and no, a nun with a black hole on her stomach doesn't cut it) and after all this time she was probably getting frustrated by now… Saten san seemed to notice this change of mood and tried improve it.

"Well… we've found a lot of weird things where I live too…" Uiharu was glaring at her, but she just made an 'it's ok' expression and continued "… for an example there was this woman that would suddenly undress in the street regardless if there was people around."

That story remind me of someone I know, I wonder who could that be?

"What? Why would she do that?"

I could ask you the same question my dear leader!

"I don't know, it's a mystery… but she does exist."

"Wow… by the way Saten chan, Uiharu, I haven't asked yet, but where are you two from?"

Saten looked at Uiharu as if looking for her permission and she nodded. "We're from Academy City."

Oh great, that place again, what are the odds of this finding even more people from there, Haruhi must be really curious if she keeps drawing people that live in that city to this place.

Immediately Haruhi got really close to her just like she did with the nun yesterday.

"Really? Then tell me what do they do on that place? I always thought there was something suspicious about it… maybe… are you an esper? What kind of ability do you have, teleporting, wind manipulation?"

Saten sweat dropped and looked uncomfortable, probably because Haruhi was so close it seemed like they were about to kiss.

"No… nothing like that, it's just a facility for developing students to their maximum potential… and…about me…" Saten lowered her head, she looked depressed for some reason"…I'm normal… too normal…"

It seemed Haruhi just struck a nerve; she must have noticed this as well because she returned to her seat and tried to cheer her up.

"Well, if you say so Saten chan then I believe you!"

Saten shook her head and returned to the cheeriness she had before.

"Anyway, Haruhi san, if you're looking for weird things… what about that?"

She pointed at a table where a waitress was taking the order of a girl in a Japanese priestess outfit and someone else we knew quite well…

"I want Hamburgers… All of them"

"All of them?"

"All of them… I love the way they taste… so I want all of them."

"But you can't…"

"What's the problem? bring us all the hamburgers and smoked cheese in this place Nyoro~n"

"But…" The poor girl sighed "…Ok, I'll bring as many as I can…" after saying those words the waitress took off to the kitchen.

"Wow… this is the first time someone takes me seriously; thank you Tsuruya san"

"It was nothing Himechii, that's what friends are for Nyoro~n"

Ok, just what the… forget it; I don't want to know… Anyway, back in our table there was a really weird mood as we watched both girls being served a tower of Hamburgers and smoked cheese; Haruhi was the first to speak…

"Well… that is… not exactly what I had in mind; I meant weird supernatural stuff… that… is just weird… really weird… but still just weird."

We all nodded, little after that they brought us the check and took my life savings away… there goes my dreams of buying a new computer this year; anyway as we were leaving Haruhi seemed to have an idea.

"Uiharu, Saten chan what if you join us today…? you can help us in our search and we can show you the town while we're at it."

The two girls looked at each other and then nodded.

"Sure, we'd love to."

"Ok then it's settled… since we have guests today we'll divide in two groups, Saten chan Uiharu, Mikuru chan and me will be the first group, Yuki, Koizumi kun and Kyon will be the second, we'll meet on the train station in a few hours to report what we found."

After saying those words both groups parted ways, as we were walking Koizumi spoke to the rest of us.

"Well that was unexpected, but I'm glad things went the way they did."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said yesterday, today I'm meeting with our informant, but I was worried because he told me we could only meet in the afternoon since he needed to go back to his home today and if I had to accompany Suzumiya san it might have been difficult to excuse myself."

"I see, so we're going to meet with him right n…"

As I was speaking I lightly scraped a girl that was passing by with my shoulder, even though it was probably nothing serious I turned around to apologize.

"I'm sorry."

She turned to me as she heard my apology, the girl had brown hair, brownish eyes and she was wearing a pink one piece dress … to be honest while she was kind of cute, there was something dangerous about her, eerily similar to that Mikoto girl from yesterday but far more aggressive and scary.

"No, don't worry about that, it was my fault." she smiled.

"Hey Mugino, is that guy bothering you?"

A blond girl with a beret shouted and I could notice another two girls where besides her looking at me.

"Calm down Frenda, we just bumped into each other, no big deal; remember we don't want any trouble while we're here."

The girl made a little bow.

"I'm sorry for my friend's rudeness."

"Never mind, it's ok."

After that the 4 girls left, we resumed our trip and continued with the conversation we had before the interruption.

"…As I was saying, we are going to meet your informant right?"

"Correct, it's always better to hear the information straight from the source and since you're both here you might as well come with me."

"That does make sense… so tell me what kind of person is the guy we're meeting."

"Well… he's kind of hard to describe so its better that you meet him directly… we're here."

We arrived in a karaoke bar that I've been a couple of times before; Inside he whispered something to the attendant and she quickly brought us to a cabin where we found Koizumi's informant, a blond guy with sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt.

"Hello Koizuyan, long time no see, nice to see you're doing well."

"Nice to see you too Motoharu." He talked with his usual butt kissing smile.

"Ah... I see you brought friends." He looked at me and Nagato.

"Yes, these are the people I told you about…"

He got close to Nagato "So I assume you're the humanoid interface, Nagato Yuki san."

"Yes, that is correct." She answered him without hesitation.

Then he turned to me, he seemed to inspect me for a while and then got really close to me, fortunately not as close as Koizumi always does so I had no troubles with that… wait, getting used to it is not good!.

"You must be Kyon san, right?" I nodded "It's an honor to meet you, you probably don't know but you're quite famous…"

"Motoharu, I hope I'm not being rude but we have to go back and report to Suzumiya san so we can't afford to waste time."

Wait, what was that about me being famous? I decided it was best not to inquire in that any further (for now), Koizumi was right, we needed to find out all we can about this situation and I can always try to interrogate him later.

"Ok we'll get on with it in just a second, anyway I'm Tsuchimikado Motoharu, nice to meet you… please take a seat while I order some snacks, I'm kind of hungry."

We all seated and little afterwards a waitress brought us some drinks and snacks, when she was gone; it was finally time to get to the point.

"So… what do you want to know Koizuyan? The organization already paid me in advance so you can ask all you want."

"First I'd like to hear what you know about the leader of the Kamijou clout."

"Kamiyan? … well he's a good person, the kind that simply enjoys helping others because he think is the right thing to do, but he's also really unlucky with everything but women and always seems to find himself in dangerous situations."

"What about his powers and more importantly why is he here?"

"His power… well we don't know much about it, but he calls it the imagine breaker… essentially what it does is negate any kind of supernatural phenomenon when he touches it with his right hand eliminating any influence this had on the object it was affecting… although side effects caused by the phenomenon might remain even after he does this."

"I see…" Koizumi had an uneasy expression on his face.

"… and the reason he's here is not because he wants it, the leader of Academy City decided he should meet Suzumiya san so he could find out what happens when he uses his power on her."

"The leader of Academy City… you mean Aleister Crowley himself planned this."

"Yep, you see Mr. Crowler believes that Suzumiya san is the ultimate esper and that her personal reality expands itself across the entire universe, so if Kamiyan touches her then everything would return to how it should be without her intervention."

"So that's what went into that guy's head… does Touma kun knows about this?"

Tsuchimikado made a disturbing grin as he spoke "Nope Kamiyan doesn't know a thing; Crowley plans to use Kamiyan three special talents to do his biddings: his extreme unluckiness, his ability to attract members of the opposite gender and of course the fact that he always get himself involved in dangerous situations, if the two remain close there is bound to be an incident that involves them."

"That's it? It can't be… Kyon kun you told me that Suzumiya san discovered Academy City because she found some pamphlets in front of the principal's office right?"

"Yeah… what about it?"

Koizumi ignored my question, but Tsuchimikado seemed to figure out what he meant.

"I see… by taking advantage of her ability, he had Suzumiya san discover Academy City so that she would summon people from there and increase the probabilities of a conflict happening."

"That's correct and the way it was done made it hard to find out about his plans until it was too late."

"So it would seem…Look, I know you're thinking that most of these espers won't cause trouble because of the rule of not using your ability outside of the city, but I advise you to be careful, while most of the people here are summoned by Suzumiya san there is one particular group Crowley brought to this place with the whole purpose of causing trouble if need arises."

"Are you talking about the girls with the night goggles? Because they've following us for a while…"

Motoharu chuckled… "Girls with night goggles? I don't know anything about that… oh well I doubt they are anything Ms. Humanoid Interface can't handle… the people I'm talking about however could be really troublesome if you're not careful. "

"So… what do you know about this group?"

"Nah, not GROUP, the people that he sent are known as ITEM."

Koizumi seemed really surprised and even dropped his smile for a second.

"You mean the meltdowner… I don't know much about him, but isn't he the fourth stronger esper in Academy City."

"That is correct, unfortunately I don't have a lot of information about him either so you're on your own with that."

Koizumi stopped for a second, he seemed to be in deep thought before he spoke again.

"One last thing… how did Crowley found out about Suzumiya san?"

"I told him."

…

Koizumi managed to keep his smile intact, but it was pretty obvious that he was pissed.

"Hey I'm sorry, I had no idea he was going to try to destroy the universe, plus I did it for love…"

"I don't care… anyway is there any other organization you told about her?"

"The church of Necessarius… they'd probably sent an agent by now."

"You! " He sighed and took a second to calm himself "That's great not only we have to deal with espers but with magicians as well!"

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, those people seemed to accept her as their God pretty easily so I doubt they'd try to hurt her and they also shared your idea of keeping her in the dark since apparently that makes her more pure… plus when you see who they sent you'll be thankful… well I'm not sure about you but at least Kyon san will."

There was an awkward silence and for a while nobody said a thing.

"Well Koizuyan, I'm afraid I have to leave now… bye."

The blond boy left the room in a hurry and little after him so did we… in the way back to our meeting place we were all quiet, Koizumi was deep in thought and I was having trouble processing all the things I learned today.

"I have a theory about Kamijou Touma's power and how it would interact with Suzumiya Haruhi."

Surprisingly it was Nagato the one that broke the ice, we both looked at her to hear what she had to say.

"It was stated by subject Tsuchimikado Motoharu that Kamijou Touma has the tendency to get involved in supernatural events against his will, in that case we could assume that he's the opposite existence of Suzumiya Haruhi, who desires the supernatural but it's not allowed to interact with it."

We both nodded; to be honest I could see where she was coming from.

"Both have the capability to alter reality, but Suzumiya Haruhi seems far more powerful as she can create, manipulate and destroy data even subconsciously whereas Kamijou Touma can only negate selected events by touching them with his right hand… if this information is taken into consideration, it can easily be deduced that Kamijou Touma and Suzumiya Haruhi powers are similar in all the basics levels but completely opposite in everything else."

Nagato took a little pause to breath and continued.

"It is also possible that Kamijou Touma unluckiness is a consequence of this; it could be that the power know as the Imagine Breaker negates Suzumiya Haruhi influence on him and she subconsciously detected this and tries to eliminate him, however since her own subconscious also prevents her from actually killing him, the result is a series of unfortunate events that are never fatal."

Getting molested because you won't do as she said… sounds like Haruhi all right.

"With that information we can deduce that thanks to the difference in the scale of their powers is highly unlikely Kamiijou Touma could destroy the universe by completely negating Suzumiya Haruhi's influence on it, but it's still probable that reality would be altered in some way if he tries. "

Well that's good… I think.

"So that means it's better if those two don't touch right?"

"That's correct."

Oh well that couldn't be that hard, I mean Haruhi already said that she wasn't interested in love so that left only his unluckiness and the espers that were in the city… I really didn't know how to deal with the later, but the former could easily be taken care of.

"So, basically we just have to prevent that from happening… sounds easy, only the thing about being attacked worries me."

Koizumi closed his eyes and smiled.

"Don't worry about that, as you know Academy City has rules against students using their abilities outside of it, this coupled with Suzumiya san's subconscious denial of supernatural beings should be enough to prevent anything serious… but if worse come to worst as Motoharu said Nagato san possess processing capabilities far beyond most espers and since the church of Necessarius seems to be in our side, we don't have to worry about magicians or angels either."

Angels? Now that was something interesting, but there was something else that was more important that I should address first.

"I understand, but those girls I saw yesterday seemed to be using their powers pretty openly, so it not like they can't break the rules."

"Yes, in the worst case scenario, we'll have to create an explanation to Suzumiya san that satisfies her and at the same time explains that what she saw was not anything supernatural and that's something we'll have to do according to the situation, so it's best if we concentrate on actively preventing something like that happens in the first place."

"I see, that kind of makes sense… what about that ITEM group he mentioned?"

"That's the thing that worries me the most… I believe the meltdowner is our worse problem."

"Why? Do you think that guy is stronger than Nagato?"

"I doubt it, the only esper that could compete with her is Accelerator, the number one, but there are rumors that he recently had an accident and he's not as powerful as he used to be, so if that true he's not that much of a threat to her either…"

Koizumi sighed.

"…The dangerous thing about ITEM is that we know nothing about them, I'm not even sure the meltdowner is really male; whereas is highly probable that they have all the information about us so they can easily take us by surprise and if their objective is making Touma kun touch Suzumiya san with his right hand… chances are they'll make their move in the worst possible moment."

Great… that's just freaking great… if that meltdowner guy is similar to that Mikoto girl from yesterday, there is no way this is going to end up nicely.

"Oh well… no use worrying about that, I'll try to get as much information about ITEM as I can and I'll inform everyone of anything I find so we can create countermeasures, please be extremely careful until then."

He took a little pause and turned to Nagato.

"By the way Nagato san, I have a question about your theory… if what you said about Touma Kun is correct, then what about the incident 3 years ago? my organization believes that the universe was created or at least completely altered on it… but if he isn't affected by Suzumiya san's influence, does that mean he was in the universe that existed before this?"

"That I do not know… it's indeed a possibility among several others, however it's impossible to determine which one is correct without actually inquiring him about it."

"I see…"

He went into his deep thought mode, but I had to get him back to earth as there was still an important question to make.

"Hey Koizumi, do you think we should tell Touma about this whole mess? We could really use his help."

"Well, it wouldn't be a bad idea and if he is like Motoharu described him it would certainly help… still I'd like to wait a little longer, it's not a good idea to tell someone he has the power to alter reality without being sure we can trust him."

Well he does have a point…

"May I inquire you two about something?"

Nagato suddenly stopped in front of us.

"Erh… sure what is it?"

"I detected a strange network that wasn't here until a couple of days ago, I suspect that it may be related to this situation, so I'd like to know your opinion of whether or not I should try to connect to it."

"Is there any risk that you could get hurt?"

She shook her head "Doubtfully."

"Ok then... Go ahead."

Nagato nodded and began chanting what seemed to be a computer program at an enormous speed.

"Searching… network detected… asking for permission to join … consulting user terms with the Integrated Data Sentient Entity… terms deemed acceptable… connecting as guest…"

Nagato remained quiet, her eyes shined and for an instant it seemed she lost consciousness, but managed to return to normal after a few seconds.

"Connection to the network established… Nagato informs pleased."

"Good to see it went well... wait… What?"

"It seems the network does contain information related to this incident… Nagato says gladly. But since we use a different type of wave length the data transfer will be slow until I've adjusted myself properly , so I won't be able to create a satisfactory report until tomorrow at the very earliest… Nagato says feeling a slight headache. "

"Well… that's ok, don't push yourself too hard… but why are you talking like that?"

"Network communication protocol… Nagato explains. Is there a problem…? Nagato asks worried"

You know it's not fun trying to guess what she's thinking if she says it out loud… oh well I suppose there's no helping it.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get used to it."

"Good… Nagato says relieved."

We finally reached the train station and inside we found Haruhi, the rest of her group and two other girls… crap!

"Ah, there is the rest of the brigade… Koizumi kun, Yuki, Kyon these are Misaka san and Shirai san, they are the two friends Saten chan mentioned earlier."

"I'm Shirai Kuroko, it's a pleasure to meet you." The girl with the thin ponytails bowed… you know if I hadn't seen how she acted yesterday, I would have thought she was a high class lady.

"And I'm Misaka Mikoto nice to meet you." She also made a polite bow; completely different from the rude girl that was after Touma yesterday.

"I'm Itsumi Koizumi, my pleasure."

"Nagato Yuki… Nagato introduces herself." Misaka san looked at Nagato with a strange expression, but quickly shook her head and looked away.

"And I'm…"

As I was speaking, Misaka san got a little closer to me and stared at me directly in the eyes.

"Haven't we met before…?"

"I don't think so…" Crap… did she notice me yesterday? They don't have to get rid of witnesses right?

"Well Kyon looks like one of those npc in a role playing game… so it's nothing unusual, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, nice to meet you Kyon san."

Thank you Haruhi, I could kiss you right now.

"Yes… nice to meet you too…" I was really nervous; but can you blame? This girl could cause a massive black out as if it was nothing, god knows what she could do if she tried.

After this nerve wracking introduction, all the girls continued chatting for a while, when a few minutes have passed it was finally time for Saten san and her group to return to their home.

"Haruhi san, it was a pleasure to meet you, but we have class tomorrow and the trip is pretty long so we must go now … don't forget we'll come back to visit you during summer break."

"Yes, I'll be waiting… bye bye Saten chan."

"Bye bye."

All the girls said their goodbyes and boarded the train that would take them home; when they were out of sight, we all left the station.

"I can't believe how tight the security in Academy City is… can you believe they have to take a bus to get near the gates once they arrive and they also have to identify themselves in the entrance… now I'm even more curious!"

Hurray... not!

"Anyway, we didn't find anything out of the ordinary and I'm assuming your group didn't find anything either…" Haruhi sighed "Oh well… I guess we'll just have to try again; anyway I'm going home… bye."

After saying these words Haruhi took her leave… when we were sure she was out of earshot we informed Asahina san of what we have learned today…

"I see… that really is worrying."

"Yes, we have to prevent them from touching at all cost and there is also that group that might come after us."

Asahina san seemed frightened… but for some reason she wasn't as scared as I thought she would be.

"Did something good happen on your end Asahina san?"

She smiled completely forgetting whatever fears she might have before.

"Yes, we showed Saten san and Uiharu chan all the tourist spots and Suzumiya san… she seemed happy… you know I always thought that she hated this place since she always says is boring, but today she was proudly showing her town to strangers and I could see she loves it very much!"

"That's great, if Suzumiya san won any appreciation for this town then that means she might be accepting reality as it is." Koizumi dropped his serious face and went back to his usual smile.

"Yep, at least something good came out of this mess."

After that we parted ways… to be honest I needed some time to think, a lot of thing happened today and my head hurts after so much exposition… Haruhi's new friend, the girls with the night goggles that I kept seeing everywhere, the melt down dude that's after us and of course the chance of screwing up reality with just a touch… god I hope something good happens tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

It was another normal Monday morning in North High, I was currently in the classroom resting on my desk, to be honest this whole situation was affecting me in more ways than one, not only I was unable to sleep, but I was beginning to feel paranoid and I must be hallucinating as well, because I kept seeing more of those night goggles girls everywhere, I even saw one inside the school building complete with a uniform and everything.

"Kyon san… hey Kyon san, are you ok?"

The person calling out to me was none other than the one indirectly responsible for this whole mess.

"What is it Touma?"

"Well you have been staring at me for a while now and to be honest you look like a truck hit you on the way here."

"Sorry, I had trouble sleeping yesterday and I'm having trouble focusing…"

"Guys! You won't believe what I just saw!"

Taniguchi suddenly entered the classroom, judging by his excitement I could already guess what this was about.

"Look if it's about the nun the other day, I'm sorry I didn't believe you…"

"Forget about that Kyon… I just saw the most amazing, beautiful woman in the whole universe and she's a student in our school…"

So it was about a girl… who would have thought?

"…At first I mistook her for a teacher since she looked so mature, but then I noticed she was wearing the schools' uniform so I guess she must be a third year… you should have seen her, most models on T.V. would kill to have her figure; I give her an AAAA+ rank."

"I thought your highest grade was AAA+… does that mean you think that she looks better than Asahina san?"

Taniguchi went silent for a second; he seemed to be debating with himself…

"I… don't know… you just can't compare them… Asahina san is a 'Moe' type girl and this one… she seemed more like a 'Big sister' type… totally different from each other."

"Big sister?" Touma seemed curious about this whole thing, maybe he liked 'Big sister' types (whatever that means…) unfortunately I was unable to investigate further as the teacher arrived… ok, remember I have to prevent Touma touching Haruhi with his right hand at all cost.

**Math class:**

"Oh crap!"

Haruhi dropped her eraser; the thing fell right in the middle between her and Touma.

"I'll get it."

"No, don't worry about that, I'll get it."

Both Haruhi and Touma went to get the eraser with an almost perfect synchronization, just as their hands were about to make contact…

"No, leave it to me!"

I dived in a grabbed the eraser in a split second, that action made me lost my balance, but I managed to avoid the fall by grabbing on to my desk and pulling myself backup.

"Here you go."

They looked at me with a 'what's his problem?' expression.

"Yeah.. thanks…"

Haruhi hesitantly grabbed her eraser, she looked confused, but then it seemed as if she realized something and smiled… I've a bad feeling about this.

**History class:**

"Sensei, I left my textbook at home!"

Haruhi raised her hand and shamelessly said those words… that's weird she's not the kind of person that forgets things like that.

"Well, let's see… why don't you sit with Touma kun?"

Crap! ... I raised my hand as well

"Sensei, I can sit with her if you don't mind!"

The teacher just chuckled and nodded.

"Ok go ahead, wouldn't want to get in the way of that… ah young people these days…"

I stood up to move my seat next to the smiling Haruhi… great I can already hear people gossiping about this.

**Gym class: **

"Ok kids, let's begin with some warm ups! Everyone pair up!"

"Hey…"

"Haruhi please be my partner!"

I stood in front of her bowing like an idiot, she just looked at me and smiled.

"It's ok Kyon, you don't have to beg, if you want to do warm ups with me so badly I'll pair up with you… now prepare yourself!"

Her smile turned into an almost evil grin, she was enjoying this…

**After school:**

I remained sitting in my desk dead tired, after Haruhi's warm ups from hell I could barely move a muscle, let alone trying to go to the club room… and to think I still had that 'secret mission' with her…

"You look terrible, well after what happened in gym class I suppose that's normal"

Taniguchi and Kunikida were standing right in front of me; they probably couldn't resist the chance to mock me.

"What do you want?"

"You know Kyon, I understand that Touma is really popular with the girls and you think he's going to steal Suzumiya away from you… but don't you think you're overdoing it?"

"Yeah, I read on the net the other day that people who are the most jealous are also the ones that get cheated the most."

"Shut up… leave me alone, will you?" Just let them think what they want… I'm too tired to argue right now.

"Ok dude as you wish, see you tomorrow."

"Bye Kyon."

After that both idiots left the classroom… you know I'm not going to go to that stupid secret mission today; I'm probably going to earn and even bigger punishment… but the hell with it, I'm going home… as I gathered all the strength that I had left to get up, I got a message on my cell.

_"Kyon, the secret mission is postponed until further notice, I'll see you in the clubroom."_

Oh whatever… might as well go to see what's going on.

**A few minutes later:**

"Please, at least let me do it myself…"

"Don't resist, you'll only make this harder."

I stood in front of the clubroom, apparently this scene would be nothing unusual, but there was something different this time… Asahina san's voice sounded… off… really off, it was like she was another person altogether, anyway when it seemed it was already over I opened the door and found Haruhi standing right next to… wait a minute that's not Asahina san, that's… one of the sexiest woman I've ever seen, she was tall, had the most perfectly toned body, a couple of huge assets that rivaled Asahina sans', a face that was cute yet mature and mysterious at the same time and beautiful long black hair perfectly tied in a gorgeous ponytail… she looked at me and…

"Kyah!" she yelled startled and tried to hide behind Haruhi and that was when I noticed something I should have seen since the beginning… her uniform was really and I mean **really **tight, her shirt only covered up to her bellybutton and those two looked they were about to pop out of it, and god if her skirt were just a couple centimeters shorter I'm sure I could see her…

"What took you so long? … whatever, it doesn't matter; Kyon, allow me to introduce you to one of our new members, Kaori chan"

Haruhi moved away revealing the girl that was behind her, she was definitely embarrassed but still managed to introduce herself properly.

"I'm Kanzaki Kaori, nice to meet you Kyon san."

"Yeah… nice to meet you too… Haruhi, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I meant outside." I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the hallway closing the door behind me…

"Ok, just tell me where did you find that girl? And why is she dressed like that?"

Haruhi pouted and looked at me annoyed.

"Just so you know she wanted to join the brigade by her own free will, I didn't kidnap her or anything."

"Oh come on, who would…"

As I was speaking I remembered something that blond guy said yesterday.

_"… they'd probably sent an agent by now…"_

_"… plus when you see who they sent you'll be thankful… well I'm not sure about you but at least Kyon san will."_

Could she be the agent that was supposed to come here… well I couldn't think of another reason a girl like that would want to join the brigade… and yes I was thankful… a lot actually, so she must be the one…

"Ok, whatever, but what about her clothes?"

Haruhi dropped her annoyed face and made her usual playful grin.

"Well, you see Kyon, when Kaori chan asked me to join the brigade I had a brilliant idea… do you remember the bunny suit plan to increase the popularity of the brigade?"

"Yeah… I also remember you getting scolded because of it…"

She put her index finger on her lower lip and looked away slightly "The problem with that plan was that the school rules don't allow students to wear something that's not approved as a uniform inside the campus…"

"So… wait you don't mean?"

"Exactly! if we have to use the uniform… then we'll just make it more appealing and eye catching… what do you think?"

I face palmed, chances are she's going to get scolded again, but still I had to admit…

"It's brilliant… stupid but brilliant"

"I know, its stupid how I didn't think about this before."

I sighed "And where did you get that uniform she's wearing?"

"It's Yuki's"

"What? How is that possible?"

"I know, I thought it wouldn't fit at all, but in the end I managed to get her in it… somehow, I just hope it doesn't break… Seriously Mikuru chan was far easier."

"What? Asahina san is in this too?"

"Of course… she doesn't look as eye catching but it couldn't be helped."

"Well, I suppose the size difference between the two of you is not that big."

"Of course it's not… wait a minute… " Haruhi looked at me confused. "…what do you mean? She's not wearing my uniform…"

"Then whose is it?"

"Oh yeah, since you dragged me out of the clubroom so fast I didn't have time to introduce her to you."

Then it was her turn to drag me by the arm into the clubroom, we went pass Kanzaki san and Asahina san (who also looked like she was about to pop out.) and stood right next to where Nagato was sitting and beside her was…

"Kyon, allow me to introduce you to our other new member, she is the twin sister of one of the girls we met yesterday Misaka Ichigo chan"

In front of me was one of the girls with the night goggles (although she wasn't wearing them right now), she looked at me with her unexpressive eyes.

"I'm Misaka Ichigo, nice to meet you… Misaka introduces herself."

"Yeah… nice to meet you too… Misaka san." I got a little nervous and looked at Nagato, she nodded signaling that everything was ok… wait a minute; I'm pretty sure I've heard that speech pattern before…

"Can you believe it Kyon? she's a child genius that managed to skip two years of middle school, we're so lucky to have her on the brigade… by the way Ichigo chan if you're Mikoto san's sister does that mean you used to live in Academy City?"

Haruhi got really close to Misaka san's face, just like she did with Saten san yesterday; however she didn't seem to be affected by this.

"No, Oneesama was the only one accepted in the city… Misaka says a little sad."

"I don't get it, if Academy City it's just a place for honor students, then how come they didn't accept Ichigo chan? It makes no sense; see Kyon I told you that place is suspicious… if only Saten chan would have told me more about it…"

Haruhi sighed and got her face away from Misaka san.

"…Another thing I've meaning to ask since yesterday, what's with that speech pattern? Even Yuki is speaking like that too, is it some kind of new trend I'm not aware of?"

Both girls just nodded and that seemed to satisfy her curiosity; then she turned to me.

"Well, I hope you´re satisfied with my explanations… now if you excuse me."

She picked the old pamphlets we had stacked since the last incident and the brigade´s camera.

"Mikuru chan, Kaori chan, let´s go!"

Asahina san got up from her seat already resigned to her fate, Kanzaki san on the other hand…

"Suzumiya san… are we really going to do this? I´m kind of a religious person and…"

"Don't worry about that, I'm sure your god won't mind."

"Ok, if you say so… Let's go!"

"That's the spirit, now come on it´s getting late."

Then Haruhi dragged both girls out of the room and went straight to the school's entrance, oh well I hope she doesn´t get into too much trouble… now only me Nagato and Misaka san remained in the room, they both looked kind of funny and cute with their extremely big outfits.

I was going to ask Nagato just what was going on but I got distracted by the way those two acted; they were sitting side by side reading similar books at what seemed to be the same pace, they even flipped the pages at the same time with the exact same movement… it was like they were in perfect harmony with each other.

I stared at the two for a while completely amazed by how perfectly their synchronization was, when Koizumi arrived on the room.

"Good afternoon Kyon kun, Nagato san" He was smiling as usual.

"Good afternoon."

"Do any of you know that girl that was with Suzumiya san and Asahina san?"

"Yeah, her name is Kanzaki Kaori; I think she´s the agent that blond guy was talking about yesterday."

"Kanzaki… could it be?" He made a worried expression.

"You know her?"

"I think I have heard of her… but I'll just ask her directly later."

"Do as you like… by the way, did you found anything about those ITEM people?"

"Unfortunately not much, that group moves in the underworld and information about it is scarce… however a member of my organization said he´ll get me the meltdowner's profile later this week, I just hope it´s not too late by then."

"Ok, remember to inform us when you find anything."

"Of course..." Suddenly his eyes opened really wide, it seemed he finally realized something was off in the room.

"Who might this girl be?"

"I'm Misaka Ichigo nice to meet you… Misaka introduces herself."

"Yeah, I'm Itsuki Koizumi…"

Before Koizumi had a chance to say anything else, Nagato interrupted him.

"I can explain the entire situation if you listen to my report about the network I found yesterday… Nagato says proudly. "

Good to see she was still speaking like that… oh well it's kind of charming in its own way.

"Ok Nagato, please explain this whole thing to us."

She nodded

"The network I found is codenamed ´Radio Noise´; it´s conformed by several thousand individuals and a system admin… Nagato states the basic information."

"That´s nice… I guess, but how is any of that related to this."

"The members of the network I mentioned before are the people you refer to as ´the girls with the night goggles' like Misaka 11111 right beside me, they are in a self assigned mission to protect Kamijou Touma and because of that they have been monitoring the whole town… Nagato informs."

Misaka san nodded as she explained.

"Well that does explain a few things; I suppose since we were talking about Touma kun so openly the other day, we managed to raise their suspicion." Koizumi had his serious expression.

"That's correct, we were scouting the perimeter and your conversation managed to get our attention … Misaka explains her actions."

"Were you the one that was spying on us Misaka san?"

"No, that one was Misaka 12854, I'm Misaka 11111… Misaka says clearing the misunderstanding."

Wait a minute… "11111…" I hit the palm of my hand with my fist "oh I get it, the number 1 (ichi) is repeated 5 (go) times, Ichigo… clever."

"Thank you, I thought that myself… Misaka says enjoying the praises; Anyway, ever since that incident we have been watching the movements of your group as a way to help our mission, I apologize for any inconvenience that might have caused… Misaka says bowing a little."

"Don't worry about that but… does that mean that all those girls I've kept seeing were just the members of your network?"

"Probably, information about the details of Misaka's existence are classified, but i can say that all the regular members of the Misaka network look really similar, so confusion might happen… Misaka explains herself."

So they were kind of like clones or something? Oh well at least that means I'm not crazy … Before I could ask anything else, Nagato spoke.

"I´ve already informed about the basis of our situation to the system administrator and she agreed to cooperate with us as long as we guarantee that we´ll not try to harm Kamijou Touma or any of the members of the network; she even authorized Misaka 11111 to help us in the future … Nagato says happily."

"That sounds great." Koizumi expression went back to his usual one.

"Yeah, the more help we have to deal with this mess the better."

"There is another thing… Nagato says hesitant."

"What is it?"

"While there is no more information on the network available to guests; I would like to remain connected to it a little longer… Nagato says eagerly."

"I'd also like Nagato san to remain connected, her processing power is tremendous and we enjoy her input in the network activities... Misaka says begging"

Why do get the feeling I'm like a father being asked his permission so his daughter can play outside… "Sure you girls can do as you wish."

They nodded and continued with their reading.

"Well at least that solves the problem about the girls with the goggles."

About half an hour later, Haruhi and the rest of her group came back; she looked happy and judging by all the commotion that came from the outside the operation was a success.

"So how did it go?"

She made a V with her fingers and a little pose.

"Excellent… we manage to complete the mission flawlessly seriously who would have thought that the school uniform would work better than a bunny suit?"

Well I've to admit the sight of Asahina san and Kanzaki san on those extremely tight uniforms was breathtaking.

"Did the teachers give you any trouble?"

"Well most of them just gave us weird looks but I just explained that their uniforms had shrunk in the dryer and they were waiting for replacements… there was also one that didn´t believe Kaori chan was a high school student, but all we had to do was show her ID."

"What a rude person, of course I´m 18." Kanzaki san seemed a little annoyed.

"Oh yeah, Koizumi kun, this is Kaori chan one of our new members; Kaori chan this is Koizumi kun the vice-president of the Brigade."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Itsuki Koizumi."

"I'm Kanzaki Kaori, nice to meet you too."

"Well I suppose you've all met Ichigo chan so that means introductions are done, now if you excuse me… time to change you girls back to normal."

Haruhi got a mischievous look on her face and slowly made her way towards her prey… Koizumi and me took this as a signal to get out the clubroom for a while.

"Kyaah! No... Please not there…"

"Come on Kaori chan, I told you it´s not use… wow these things are amazing, they must be bigger than… hey Mikuru chan where do you think you´re going? Don´t think I've forgotten about you, after I finish with Kaori chan it´s you turn next."

"No Suzumiya san I can do it by myself…"

"There Kaori chan , done… now Mikuru chan come here…"

"Kyaah! Stop it…"

The usual show continued in the clubroom (now improved thanks to the addition of Kanzaki san)… when the cries ended, we opened the door and found Kanzaki san and Asahina san sitting on the floor panting… Haruhi on the other hand was smiling and packing her things.

"Oh, since we got new members I thought about meeting this Sunday to teach them all the basic stuff, I've already explained the details to them so we'll meet at the usual spot… and please this time, don't be late... well now if you excuse me I have to go."

She glared at me and picked her stuff, as she was leaving she gave me the camera she was holding.

"Here you go Kyon, please upload these pictures to the site before you leave… Good bye."

"Of course I won´t!"

However she didn't hear me as she was already far away… Little after that Koizumi, Asahina san and Kanzaki san left as well; I was preparing to go home myself, but first I had to delete the pictures Haruhi took today, seriously what is that girl thinking taking embarrassing pictures like these…

Ok, I'll admit it; I copied all the pictures of Asahina san wearing that ridiculously tight uniform into her hidden folder… and yes I made a new one for Kanzaki san's pictures as well… I'm weak like that… Anyway after I made sure to hide all the files properly I grabbed all my stuff and prepared to leave.

"Are you two going to stay here much longer?"

"No, we'll be departing for my apartment in a few minutes… Nagato explains her plans for today."

"_'We?' _Are you two living together?"

"No, I'll be staying with Nagato san today to finish several books we had marked for reading … Misaka answers."

Both girls began picking several books from the shelves and packing them into their bags, I'm guessing they're going to have a slumber party or something like that tonight… oh well at least Nagato made a new friend.

"Ok, don't stay up too late, good bye…"

Both girls just nodded and continued… As I was leaving the school I found somebody waiting at the gates.

"Kanzaki san, what are you doing here?"

She turned to see me with her face all serious.

"Kyon san, I wanted to talk to you about something, I've already introduced myself to the other members so I figured out I should let you know who I really am."

"Ok, I'm listening" Ah this brings back memories from when the brigade was first founded… wait, why am I talking like an old man?

"I'm actually a magician from the church of Necessarius my sorcery name is Salvare000, 'The one being saved becomes the hand that saves'"

"I see."

"You don't seem very surprised Kyon san"

"It's not the first time something like this happens, plus that Tsuchimikado guy told us an agent from that place was coming."

"He did? I'll have to scold him later for that… Anyway; I'll be a member of the brigade from now on, so please take care of me."

"Same here, I'm assuming you know you shouldn't let Haruhi know about any supernatural phenomenon of any kind."

"Yes, its better if God doesn't know anything, if she did her own powers might corrupt her and that could be disastrous, so she must be kept as pure as possible."

"Yep you're right… Kanzaki san do you mind if I ask you something a little personal?"

"Well I might not be able to answer it depending of what it is, but please ask whatever you want"

"What did you think when you first met Haruhi?"

"Hmm, I was surprised at first, she's completely different from how I thought God would be, plus she made me do those embarrassing things earlier."

She shivered probably remembering what happened today.

"But she does have this certain aura around her… I can't really put it into words but she's definitely a special person and I really want to protect her already."

"That's great, welcome to the brigade Kanzaki san."

"Yes thank you Kyon san." She bowed politely.

"By the way, do you know about the whole Kamijou situation?"

"Kamijou as in… Kamijou Touma?" She blushed.

"You know Touma kun?"

"We... Have met a few times before…" She blushed more and even stuttered a little… great don't tell me she's another one of Touma's fans… seriously what's with that guy and women… anyway I explained the whole situation to her.

"I see, that is worrying, we have to prevent those two touching at all cost… anyway, I'm sorry Kyon san but I must take my leave for today, good bye."

"Bye Kanzaki san, be careful on your way home."

"Don't worry; I can take care of myself…"

She grabbed a huge pole that was resting on a wall near her and removed a little of the cloth that was covering it to reveal a nodachi that should be around two meters long.

"…By the way Kyon san about those pictures Suzumiya san took…"

"Already erased them, I wouldn't want to compromise you or Asahina san like that." I lied, but hey how do you expect me to tell the truth when she's holding a huge sword like that.

"Great."

She smiled at me and left the scene and a few seconds later so did I… you know today wasn't as bad I thought it'd be, sure Haruhi almost killed me in the morning but we got new allies and I got to see something amazing later on and even kept a few photos as souvenirs… Still I couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the calm before the storm...

* * *

**Author's note: **I suppose I should explain Misaka 11111's name in more detail in case anybody is confused about it, the thing is _ichi_ means 1 and _go_ mean 5 in japanese, so her name (11111) it's _ichi_ (1) repeated _go_ (5) times, put both numbers together and you get _ichigo_... I know most of you probably associate it to Bleach's main character, but since Ichigo is Japanese for strawberry I figured it could pass as a female name too... plus it was the best pun about numbers I could think with my limited Japanese knowledge.

* * *

**Omake**

**The best sleepover ever:**

One night two girls were having a party of sorts; they had gathered tons of books from their school's clubroom and now they were going through all of them at once, they had already read several such as: The Iliad, The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, Thermonuclear physics for dummies, an English dictionary, an Spanish dictionary, the operating manuals of Windows 3.11, 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista, MacOS IX and X, among a few others.

"It's late… Misaka notices as she checks the current time."

Nagato looked at her partner.

"You're correct… Nagato concurs."

"We should get some sleep now, there's school tomorrow… Misaka says worried."

She began picking up all the books in the table and noticed that they had already finished all of them, with one notable exception… the entire 15th edition of the Britannica encyclopedia.

"Those are the only books missing… Misaka says annoyed."

"Leave them, there's no time to read them today, it would be needed for us to stay awake until 3:00 am to finish them… Nagato states her calculations."

"We could… but… Unlike you, Misaka is an organic life form and as such she needs sleep to keep functioning with maximum efficiency… Misaka says sad."

"I could stay awake, finish the books and then upload the data into the network when I finish… Nagato states a possibility."

"Sounds like an acceptable plan… Misaka says as she goes to prepare for sleep."

Misaka san stood up and Nagato moved towards the encyclopedia to pick the first volume, a few minutes later, she felt how her partner returned already changed into her pajamas and seated right next to her…

"Shouldn't you be going to sleep…? Nagato says concerned."

The other girl seemed to ignore her, lay down covering herself with a blanket and using her lap as a pillow.

"Misaka decided she'll keep Yuki Company even in her sleep… Misaka says as she…"

She fell asleep almost immediately, Nagato's mouth arched upwards to the point you could almost say she was smiling

"Good night Ichigo…"

She caressed Misaka's hair for a while before going back to her book, she needed to finish the entire set before morning… she had promised her friend that she would.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

**Tuesday:**

I was resting on my desk, dead tired after another round "Don't let Touma touch Haruhi"… man that name sucks, just like the game; I mean how many times can a freaking eraser fall in one class? It's ridiculous… By the way, after Haruhi's little stunt yesterday the brigade was once again a hot topic, Kanzaki san in particular now had several dozens of new admirers... and one of them was annoying me right now.

"Come on Kyon, at the very least could you please tell me her name? I'm begging you…"

Taniguchi was kneeling in front of my desk with his hands resting on his knees; it'd been like this the whole day.

"I don't get it, how can you like someone when you don't even know how she's named?"

"_'__A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'… _It doesn't really matter, she's great regardless._"_

Taniguchi quoting Shakespeare… now that's unusual.

"Then why do you need to know?"

"I just want to… come on dude, if it were me I'd tell you…"

He tried to make a cute face with puppy eyes and everything…

"Ok… ok… I'll tell you, just promise me you'll never do that face again… ever. "

"Deal!" he shook my hand with far too much enthusiasm.

"Her name is Kanzaki Kaori…. Now could you please leave me alone?"

"Kanzaki Kaori… such beautiful name fits her perfectly…"

"…Kanzaki?"

It seemed our conversation managed to get Touma's attention.

"Yes, she was one of the girls that were with Suzumiya at the school gate yesterday."

Touma seemed confused "Yesterday? I must have missed it since I went home early… but what is she doing in this place?"

"Wait…" Taniguchi stared at him "…Don't tell me that you know her?"

"Yeah… if she's the one I'm thinking of, we met on the beach last summer…"

"The beach! … Does that mean you saw her wearing a swimsuit?"

Touma got all embarrassed for some reason. "Kind of..."

"Dude I'm so jealous… seriously, between you and Kyon it's like…"

As Taniguchi went on with his ramblings I took the chance to sneak off to the club room, once there I was pleased to found that our new members had already become used to being a part of the brigade, that is to say they weren't doing anything related to it at all; Misaka san was beside Nagato reading just like they did yesterday, while Kanzaki san was sitting Japanese (Seiza) style on the floor meditating and drinking some tea that Asahina san got her.

Anyway, I sat on the table with Koizumi to play some games, but unfortunately we couldn't even set the board completely when the door was burst open by our dear leader.

"I can't believe that guy, he's so freaking annoying!"

We all turned to see her; Koizumi was the first to speak "What's wrong Suzumiya san, who are you talking about?"

"The captain of the kendo club, it seems he has crush on Kaori chan and now he's stalking me into telling him her number… crap! the school uniform plan totally backfired, I thought people would come to us with mysteries or something like that… but definitely not with their stupid love delusions!"

Being annoyed by one of Kanzaki san fans, I could relate to that.

"That guy… he can be a little forceful when it comes to things like that…"

"Mikuru chan… do you know him?"

"Yes, when I first got into this school he wanted me to be his girlfriend at all cost, but luckily Tsuruya san helped me and told him off… he left me alone after that."

"I see… then all I've to do is…"

"What do you mean "stalking into telling" Suzumiya san." Kanzaki san had broken her meditation and was looking at Haruhi intensively.

"Well he kind of tried to push me into a corner me so I would tell him, but there is no way I'd let someone like that…"

As soon as she said those words, Kanzaki san got up and walked towards the door, she looked upset.

"Hey Kaori chan… where are you going?"

"I'm going to settle things with that person."

Haruhi tried to stop her.

"Don't worry about that Kaori chan, it was no big deal, he didn't try to do anything funny and I'm ok, so there is no reason to be angry about it… hey wait up!"

Kanzaki san just ignored her and left the room, Haruhi went after her right away and I was going to follow them as well but Koizumi stopped me as I was getting up.

"I believe it's best if we don't interfere Kyon kun."

"What do you mean? This could turn out to be a real disaster if we just let it be!"

"Well, there is also a pretty good chance that our presence could make things worse, plus I doubt someone like Kanzaki san would let herself getting blinded by her feelings so easily; she's probably just trying to settle this situation as quickly as possible."

"Are you sure? I think she looked pretty upset right now."

"Kyon kun, you have to remember that Kanzaki san is different from us; Me, Asahina san and Nagato san are here to investigate Suzumiya san and try to keep her satisfied so she won't destroy the universe; but Kanzaki san comes from an organization that already accepted her as their one and only God, so protecting her at all cost must be her top priority and you know how devoted some religious people can be, especially when it's about their messiah… still I trust her judgment on this matter."

I calmed down a little "Ok, I won't go… but if this whole thing gets out of control I'm blaming you."

"No problem." He made one of his annoying smiles.

"You know, you're pretty sure that she won't do anything stupid, I thought you said you hadn't met Kanzaki san before."

"I hadn't, but she's pretty famous in some circles… she's one of the Catholic's Saints, who possesses the 'Stigma' an ability that allows people to call upon God's powers, not to mention that she's also the former leader of the Amakusa Catholics so I believe she's qualified to handle this."

"Wow I guess that does sound pretty impressive… I think."

"I know, to be honest I was pretty surprised when I found out she was the one sent to this place, but I suppose that if they wanted to protect Suzumiya san properly and not raise her suspicion they needed someone that was strong and capable yet could easily blend in a school environment… "

She doesn't really blend all that well… she looks like she's on her early twenties for god's sake.

"...Still, I'm happy to have someone like her in our side…. Now I know what Motoharu meant we he said that I'd be thankful when I saw who they sent."

I don't think he meant it like that… but oh well I suppose that's another valid interpretation.

"Ok, I guess she can take care of this… By the way Koizumi, there is something in your explanation that I don't get…"

"What could it be?"

"You just said she has an ability that can call upon God's powers, now if her God is Haruhi then… how does that work exactly?"

He looked at me, raised his shoulders and shook his head "I don't know… beats me…"

A few minutes later both girls came back into the room, Kanzaki san looked like she already calmed down and it was Haruhi who now looked a little angry…

"Seriously Kaori chan, there was no need to act like that, I've could have handle him myself!"

Kanzaki san lowered her head. "I'm sorry Suzumiya san, it's just that I got really upset to find out you were being molested because of me so I guess I kind of overreacted… "

Haruhi sighed and dropped her angry expression completely "Oh come on, if you say it like that there is no way I can get mad at you… but are you sure you're going to be ok?"

"Yes, this'll be no trouble at all."

Ok, I just had to ask "So… what happened? Did you meet with that guy? How did it go?"

Haruhi looked at me "Yes, well… Kaori chan spoke to him and… one thing lead to the other and well… they're going to have a kendo competition next Thursday and if she wins then he won't bother me or any other girl in school ever again."

A duel? … Ok, I suppose I should've seen that one coming.

"And what if he wins?"

Kanzaki san answered me this time "Then I'll have to go on a few dates with him."

"Kaori chan are you really sure you can win? I heard he's pretty strong and even competed in a few national tournaments; I'd hate that you'd have to go out with that jerk because of me… "

"Don't worry about that it's not your fault, I got into this situation by my own will and I'll be the one that settles it… needless to say I've no intention to date that person so loosing it's not an option."

"Well… that's the spirit I guess but have you really practiced kendo before?"

"Yes, I learned how to handle a sword when I was little back in my old home…"

"You old home? Now that I think about it I haven't asked yet, but where are you from Kaori chan?"

Please everywhere but Academy City…

"Well I lived in Japan when I was a child but then I moved to England for a few years before coming to this place… "

Haruhi looked at her amazed.

"So you've studied abroad, wow I didn't know that Kaori chan, that's really impressive, with you and Ichigo chan in our ranks the brigade in now stronger than ever."

"Thank you Suzumiya san."

Well I must admit that the addition of a clone and a magician to our group furthers completes Haruhi's collection of supernatural beings… oh well… whatever, I just hope Koizumi's right and everything ends well…

**Thursday:**

We were all gathered in the school gym, the duel between Kanzaki san and the kendo club captain had managed to assemble quite a crowd, a lot of them were Kanzaki san's admirers or members of the kendo club that came to cheer on his captain, but the thing that caught my eye me the most was a group of girls that was at the back of the place, they didn't seem to side with anyone and only stared at the ring silently.

"Kaori chan, do your best!"

Unfortunately Kanzaki san's biggest fan was right beside me…

"Hey Taniguchi, do you really have to be so loud? I mean we're in the gym not in a stadium during an idol concert."

"Of course Kyon, I've to yell as loud as I can so Kaori chan notices me."

I doubt that will leave a good impression… but whatever.

"Ok, just don't shout so close to my ear…"

Anyway, both contestants were already standing in front of each other with their protective armors (bōgu) and a bamboo sword (shinai) on their hands… I don't know what surprises me the most, that they have a bōgu that's Kanzaki san's size, or that she still managed to look great on it.

"Kaori, why don't we stop this farce? I know you try to act though, but you must be dying to go on a date with me. "

The captain of the kendo club was taunting Kanzaki san, but she didn't care about what he had to say.

"Let's just get on with this already."

"That's right Kaori chan, don't let his mind games get to you."

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Haruhi had really gotten into this thing and now she was by Kanzaki san's side like she was her coach or something; not only that, she made the rest of the brigade spend the whole day yesterday advertising the match and looking for some dirt on that kendo guy while she and Kanzaki san had a 'training session'… I don't know what happened on it, but now Haruhi was far more confident in her victory.

On the other hand we managed to find a few things about that kendo guy, it seemed he tried to hit on like half the girls on school, and well most of them hated him because he could be really 'aggressive' when he did it... but none of the girls we asked said he tried to force himself on them, and all of them said he went away after a while so I think this whole thing may've been completely avoidable… still the thing that bothered me the most is… if that guy is really so infamous, then how come I never even heard about him before?

"It's kind of surprising don't you think? She was completely against this on Tuesday and now she's like that…"

Koizumi was really close to my face… again… seriously dude stop doing that.

"Yeah, I guess you're right… I think she feels responsible for this whole mess and now she wants to help Kanzaki san any way she can."

"That's a good explanation, but I believe there's another reason for this."

"What do you mean?"

"I think her change of heart came from the fact that she didn't expect Kanzaki san to react like she did and now she's fascinated that someone else wanted to protect her."

"Well, I suppose Haruhi mustn't be used to people standing up for her… heck most of the time we're protecting others from her, so this whole thing is pretty unusual."

"That's correct, it's curious that an incident like this occurred in the first place, to be honest I doubt it happened by chance…"

"Do you mean that she subconsciously wanted to be protected by Kanzaki san?"

"Not exactly, I believe she wanted another person to act like she did."

"…And just who might that be?"

He looked at me chuckled…

"I don't know, I wonder who it could be… By the way Kyon kun did you have trouble keeping Touma kun and Suzumiya san from touching each other today?"

Ok… the whole Touma and Haruhi can't touch thing sounds even worse when he says it.

"You have no idea; she forgot all of her textbooks today… all of them! I had to sit with her the entire day… And the way she smiles when I'm with her, I swear she's enjoying this… It's almost like she's doing it on purpose just to torture me… hey! Why are you laughing like that?"

He was once again chuckling… seriously what's his problem?

"Nothing… never mind me… now I think the match is about to begin."

Just as he said it was time for the fight to start, they'd be competing using standard kendo rules:

-The first person to get two points wins

-A point was awarded to a contestant when they strike one of the protected areas in the opponent body.

- There would be three referees on the field, each with a red and white flag on their hands, when one of them raised a flag, it meant that referee believed a point had to be given to the contestant who was wearing the ribbon with the corresponding color.

-At least two referees must be rising their flags for a point to be awarded.

There were other things as well, but that's the basis of it.

Kanzaki san was red and the kendo club captain was white, as for the judges…

"Well Suzumiya, have you choosen who's going to represent your team?"

"Hmpf… about that…" It seemed like our leader had forgotten something really important… oh well, knowing how things usually work around here I doubt that was going to be a problem.

"Suzumiya san, I can be the referee if you like… Misaka says offering her help."

"Are you sure you can do it Ichigo chan?"

"Yes, I recently read a book about rules and regulations of Kendo so it shouldn't be a problem… Misaka says confident in her abilities"

I sighed; it's always like this… although I expected someone else to take the job…

"Ok, then Ichigo chan will represent us."

As soon as Haruhi said those words the entire crowd became really noisy and you could hear things like…

"_Are they really going to have two judges on one side, isn't that like totally unfair."_

"_Man, what a disappointment."_

"_Come on dude, fair play!"_

The kendo club captain hit his shinai against the floor and the entire crowd went silent…

"Come on people, I'm going to win and I don't need to cheat to do it! … I'll promise this'll be a fair match, heck your girl can be the main referee if she likes."

Could that dude be more of a jerk? Seriously no wonder every girl in school hates him… Anyway, Misaka san nodded, grabbed her flags and took her position in the middle of the ring, when she was done the kendo club captain made a sign and two of the other members of his club took their place beside her.

"Ok, Kaori chan, remember our training yesterday, I know you can do this, so go out and make the brigade proud!"

Both contestants bowed and moved to the two white lines on the floor that marked the starting position, took their postures signaling that they were ready to start and…

"Hajime! … Misaka says starting the match."

As soon as our referee spoke the kendo club captain dashed towards Kanzaki san, he raised his shinai over his head and tried to strike her with a frontal blow…

"Kote! … Misaka says while raising her flag."

…In just a second his shinai fell to the floor and all three judges raised their red flag, awarding Kanzaki san a point… it was amazing, I could barely see it, but she managed to hit the side of the wrist protector of her opponent with a clean strike in just an instant, it was beautiful.

The entire audience was confused; no one could believe what just happened, not even the kendo club captain, he picked his shinai from the floor and moved toward his white line.

"Crap! That was a fluke! I got careless and screwed up, but I'm going to get serious this time, so don't get your hopes up."

Kanzaki san just ignored him and assumed her position again, when they were both ready to continue…

"Nihonme! … Misaka says continuing the match."

This time the kendo club captain took his time and approached her more carefully, he tried to make a thrust toward her neck yet his shinai only managed to hit the air… Kanzaki san moved to his right side, completely dodging his blow and then stroke him on the head with a quick yet perfect swing that knocked him down to the floor…

"Men! … Misaka says rising her flag again."

Once again all the referees had their red flags up in the air… the other guy just couldn't believe what just happened.

"Wait…"

"Shobu ari! … Misaka says ending the match."

Misaka san raised her red flag again to indicate that Kanzaki san was the winner and… that was it, the match was over… it didn't even last 15 seconds… I almost felt disappointed… the kendo club captain stood up as Kanzaki san removed her head gear and it seemed like he was about to complain, but…

"Now, I hope you'll keep your end of the promise."

She said those words and glared at him… man if only looks could kill that guy would be dead.

"Yes Ma'm, I will…"

He mumbled something after that but I couldn't hear it as all the Kanzaki san's fans went completely crazy in celebration, and not only them, but all the girls that I mentioned before were now surrounding her.

"Kanzaki senpai, that was great!"

"Yeah, I was rooting for you, that idiot really deserved to be put in his place, Kanzaki senpai."

"I'm sorry, I got the wrong impression when I first saw you at the school gate but you're the best Kanzaki senpai."

"Kanzaki senpai…"

Ah, they must be the girls that had been molested by that guy; I see that makes sense… they all surrounded her making sure she knew how much they appreciated her; funny, Kanzaki san is all flustered and embarrassed, she's definitely not used to being the center of attention… too bad because her fan base must have doubled after this and it seemed our dear leader was a part of it, she stood in front of her, staring directly at her eyes with her face full of amazement and admiration.

"Wow, Kaori neesan you're so cool! I saw you had potential during our training yesterday but I didn't think you were so amazing! That looser didn't even stand a chance against you."

Wait… What? Did Haruhi just called her like I think she did? I can't believe this and apparently neither could Kanzaki san as she blushed a little and looked down on the floor.

"Thank you, Suzumiya san."

"Oh come on, why so formal? Just call me by name, ok."

"Yes… Haruhi san."

"I can't believe you could fight so well, and Ichigo chan was excellent as a referee too…"

I see… after witnessing how Kanzaki san did such a reckless thing to help her, now she must have gained a lot of respect for her… that's great! I was worried because after I saw how Haruhi treated her when she first arrived, I feared that Kanzaki san could suffer an incident like the one Asahina san had when we were making the movie, but now that Haruhi looks up to her not only were my fears gone but it also meant that there is a chance she'll take her as a role model… who knows, maybe Kanzaki san can actually teach her some common sense, so I could see a lot of good things coming from this… as long as she doesn't teach her sword fighting that is.

"I suppose this means you were right Koi…"

Eh…? That's weird, Koizumi was right beside me a few seconds ago but now he's nowhere to be seen… oh well he must have gotten lost in the crowd; I decided to go back to the clubroom, it was getting late and I just wanted to get my stuff and go home, as I was going out I noticed Nagato standing near the exit.

"Hey, Nagato!"

She turned to look at me.

"I didn't see you at the match, I thought you'd missed it… so what do you think?"

It's always kind of hard to start a conversation with her…

"The outcome of the match was unsurprising; a simple analysis of both fighters could have easily established the result… Nagato says casually."

"If you say so… you know I was really surprised when Misaka san showed up as a referee instead of you."

"I decided it would be best for her to do it in order to help the formation of a bond between her and Suzumiya Haruhi, but I could have participated myself, since I was the one that read the book about kendo's rules and regulations in the first place… Nagato explains her decision."

"Huh? If you were the one that read it then how come she knew about it?"

"Information on the Misaka network travels using a peer to peer system, where every individual share her thoughts, knowledge and memories freely, so I just uploaded the data about the book and every other member of the network was able to add those memories into her own… Nagato explains"

"I see, I suppose that makes sense, it must be pretty convenient to be able to do that."

"Not really, most of the non protected memories on the network are about trivial things and there is so many of them that filtering useless information becomes impossible, in the end all of them are added into everyone's databases automatically regardless of their relevance; so it's an extremely inefficient way to handle the data flow… Nagato states her honest opinion. "

"But, you must've liked it, or else you wouldn't have wanted to stay connected to it so badly."

"Yes, there is no logical reasoning behind my decision… Nagato says confused."

I think there is one Nagato, you just found some friends in there and now you want to be with them and share a few memories together, there is nothing illogical about that.

"Hey, Kyon san."

Huh… Touma just arrived in the gym, he was breathing heavily and looked like he just ran here.

"The match… did I miss it?"

"Yes, it's already over."

"What? Already? But I was only late by a little… if only that teacher wouldn't have made me carry all those papers to his office… such misfortune."

"Well it's not really his fault, I mean the thing lasted like 15 second at most."

"I see, well I expected something like that…" he glanced to the crowd were Kanzaki san was "… I suppose I won't be able to ask her about why she's here today either… such misfor…"

He raised his right hand to scratch the back of his head, and when he did Nagato quickly moved behind me and hid in my back, her head being the only part left exposed…. Of course! How could I be so stupid? With all the stuff about Touma not touching Haruhi I forgot something really important… Nagato! She could disappear if he touched her… I can't let that happen, I shielded her as best as I could, while she just looked at him from her position… Touma for his part only stared at Nagato's unexpressive eyes.

"That reaction… those eyes… could it be… "He swallowed "…are you an Angel? (Tenshi?)"

He took a step backwards and placed his right hand inside his pocket…

"I'm sorry Tenshi san… I'll be more careful from now… bye…"

He made a gesture with his left hand and left the place… what was that all about? Nagato is an Angel? And why does he look like he's afraid of her? Are Angels scary or something?

"Kyon san, Yuki… Misaka calls for attention."

I didn't have time to wonder about those things, as Misaka san was calling for us.

"Thank you for waiting for me… Misaka expresses her gratitude."

Nagato nodded, so that was why she was standing so close to the exit, to wait for Misaka san.

"I already gathered all the books for today, let's go Ichigo… Nagato says happily."

Both girls turned to me and bowed…

"Yes, goodbye, see you tomorrow."

Wait a minute… Ichigo? Yuki? I see, they were that close already… you know when I see those two being so friendly with each other it makes me wonder about that system admin, I mean what if she sent Misaka san here knowing she would get along with Nagato? I don't know much about her but she must be a really wise and kind person if that was her intention.

Oh well, after that I finally managed to go home for today, the pass couple of days had been a little hectic, but I can't say they were pointless, our new members already feel like a part of the brigade, Nagato is getting closer to her new friend and of course Haruhi getting a role model so maybe she won't be as crazy from now on… you know despite all the mess Touma's arrival caused, there were also a lot of good things that came with it and I kind of wish things remain as peaceful as they are now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

**Friday:**

"Haruhi, are you really sure you want to do this?"

"Of course Kyon, it's about time we did it… "

"We could really get in trouble for this you know."

"I don't care, we just have to do it; we'll worry about the consequences later."

"Ok… But don't try to put all the blame on me if we get caught."

"No way! We're in this together and you know I'm not afraid of the anything… if worst comes to worst we'll just have to take responsibility."

"But you're the one making me do this."

"Never mind that Kyon, now please don't worry about it so much, you'll see that by the end of the day, it'll be over and we'll be completely satisfied … seriously we should have done this before."

"To be honest, I thought you've forgotten about stalking him."

"Of course not, it's just with all the stuff with Kaori neesan and the kendo guy that happened the last few days we just had to postpone it for a while… and for the last time we're not stalking, we're investigating, it's different."

As our conversation clearly indicates, Haruhi and me were currently in the school's shoe lockers waiting for Touma to go home so we could follow him.

"That's not what you said the other day… oh well whatever, let's just get this over with."

"Do you always have to be like that? Come on show some spirit, once we discover his secret then it'll all be worth it."

"Are you really sure that he's hiding something? I mean he looks pretty normal to me."

Besides the whole 'right hand that can destroy universes' thing that is.

"I know he seems normal but I'm sure that's just a cover up, you'll see…"

"Just promise me that if we don't find anything suspicious you'll leave him alone."

"Ok… ok… I promise."

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

We turned around and found none other than Touma himself talking to us, luckily from my position I was able to get between him and Haruhi without effort.

"Hey Touma… nothing we were just talking about some stuff…"

"I see… Do you mind if I ask you guys a question?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you knew were Kanzaki went? I been trying to talk to her the past few days but I just can't never seem to find her and when I do she's busy and I can't get to her."

"Kaori neesan went home early today; she said she had a few things to take care of."

Touma sighed "I see… I suppose I'll try again tomorrow… such misfortune."

"Just out of curiosity, what do you want with her? Could it be you're one of her fans?"

Judging by her reaction the other day I think it's the other way around.

"No, no, nothing like that I just wanted to ask her a few things, that's all… anyway I've to go now, bye Kyon san, Suzumiya san"

He went to his locker, put on his shoes and walked to the door, however when he was about to exit he turned around.

"By the way Kyon san, please tell Tenshi san that I'm really sorry about yesterday."

"Ok, I'll tell her…"

After that Touma left…

"Who does he mean with Tenshi san? is there an Angel at school or something?"

"Well, he calls Nagato like that…"

"Why?"

Great, how am I supposed to explain something I don't even know about?

"I'm not sure; I think is because she looks like that Tenshi character from the anime 'Angel Beats'."

"Ah…? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, I suppose there are some similarities, but she doesn't look like Yuki all that much… Speaking about that, I always thought Teshi was modeled after Ruri Hoshino from 'Martian Successor Nadesico', I mean look at her, I swear it's like somebody just drew Ruri with her hair down, now Yuri's design on the other hand, it's the most wonderful… "

She stopped talking as I stared at her completely dumbfounded… who would have thought that she was… I mean, if life were a T.V. show, people would think she just broke the fourth wall.

Haruhi cleared her throat and regained her composure "…Anyway Kyon that doesn't matter, let's go we'll lose him if we don't."

She grabbed my arm and dragged me by it outside school, little after that we managed to follow Touma inside a convenience store, where he bought several bags of groceries and a few other stuff.

"See why would someone need so much food? It doesn't make sense."

"Unless you lived with a nun that had a black hole for a stomach that is."

"Yeah… I forgot about that… anyway he's still suspicious."

"But… Why?"

"Because he just… is… now come on he's leaving…"

We followed him a little longer through the street where an old lady spoke to him.

"What are they talking about? Crap I can't hear anything, maybe she's her contact or something."

"I don't know, judging by the way he assisting her in crossing the street I'd say he wasn't lying when he said he liked to help people… heck he's even carrying her bags too."

"I'm not convinced yet… by the way don't you think he's carrying fewer bags than before."

"Hmph… yeah you're right… that old lady must have taken some of his by mistake, how unlucky."

"See, he must have given her some secret message or something."

Touma checked the bags in his hands and we could hear him yelling "Such misfortune" and immediately sighing after he did it.

"That explains why he's lamenting like that… also I think that lady was the one that lives near my house, you know the one that always says hi when you visit despite you not knowing her or answering her back."

"Let's just keep following him…"

Then he went to the park, and in there a little girl asked him for help to get her cat down from a tree.

"Excuse me sir, can you help Shimasen? He's stuck on that tree and can't get down."

Wait a minute, that's my cat… and that's my sister too.

"Ok, let me see what I can do."

After saying those words Touma climbed on the tree and tried to get Shimasen down… unfortunately it seemed he didn't like him much, as he launched himself on Touma's face… they struggled for a little but after a short while both of them fell from the tree, Touma landed with his back on the ground while Shimasen landed perfectly on his four legs.

"Thank you sir." My little sister grabbed the cat and went away…

Touma got himself back up and cleaned himself while he said his catchphrase again (he seemed to be ok, thank god that tree wasn't that high.) I looked at Haruhi, she was staring at him silently… then she started shaking and just when it seemed like she was about to explode, she sighed and looked down so I couldn't see her face…

"It's that supposed to be my only clue about Academy City… I mean… he just fought against your cat… and lost for crying out loud! I can't stand this… I just know that place must have something awesome in it … I don't know exactly what it is… I want to see it… but I can't reach it… so close but still… I just can't… I give up."

"Haruhi are you ok?"

She sighed again and turned her back on me.

"Yeah, I'm ok… I guess this means you were right Kyon, that guy is as normal as it gets… I really thought this could be it… but I suppose it isn't, so… we just have to keep trying… right?"

"Haruhi…"

"Don't worry I'll keep my promise, I won't follow him anymore, so you can stop your jealousy already."

"Jealousy? What do you mean?"

"Wasn't that the reason you've been acting so strange lately, I mean picking up my stuff so desperately, sitting with me on class when I forget my books, being my partner in gym class, not to mention how you always try to get him away from me when he's close."

"No… that was… well… since you're always telling me that I should be more supportive as a member of the brigade I figured out that I should help you like that and since you said he was suspicious I supposed you wanted to keep him away."

She lowered her head even further.

"I see, it was for that… Well it's great that you are finally taking your responsibilities seriously… I was confused and thought you were jealous… You gave me a good scare there…" She tried to laugh, but couldn't "See you tomorrow…" She ran off… I tried to stop her but… I just couldn't… I can't really explain it but… somehow it didn't felt like I should…

**Saturday **

"…and that's pretty much what happened yesterday."

"I see… I suppose that does explain this situation…"

I stared at the dozens of closed spaces that we could see from the bridge, Koizumi called me here since they've been increasing a lot since yesterday.

"…Having the thing you wish the most so close yet still being unable to get it… that is indeed a horrible feeling."

He looked depressed… I'm not sure why, but he is being really weird today; maybe… no… that can't be, right?

"How was she today?"

"Well, she was trying to act like always, but I could see that she was still down and I had the feeling she was trying to avoid me … she didn't even dropped her eraser once today."

"I guess that's because there's no reason to."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing… nothing at all…" He sighed.

"Kyon kun, Tomorrow we have to cheer her up at all cost, the situation is not **that** bad now, but it's getting worse by the second and we have to prevent it for becoming a full blown crisis."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"I'm not sure… I'll inform everyone else and see what we can come up with, please try to think something yourself as well… by the way, my contact in the organization finally sent me the meltdowner's profile."

Great, with all the stuff that's been going one lately I forgot everything about that.

"What does it say about him?"

"Actually is not 'him' but 'her', unfortunately I didn't get a photograph, but she's named Mugino Shizuri, and it seems that her abilities allow her to converts electrons into an unstable destructive matter and manipulate said matter as she desires."

I swallowed "That's sound dangerous."

"That's not all, it seems that her personality is extremely unstable and she can go from a kind, gentle girl to a murderous psycho that doesn't care about eliminating people that get in her way…"

This just keeps getting better and better… not.

"…To be honest I already expected something like this… we have to be really careful about her"

Mugino Shizuri, that name sounds familiar somehow…

"_Hey Mugino, is that guy bothering you?"_

…it can't be… "Koizumi, do you remember that girl I bumped into last Sunday."

"Yes… what about her?"

"That other girl that was with her… she called her Mugino didn't she?"

"Yes… if I remember correctly, you're right."

"Do you think that… maybe?"

"It's possible, I hadn't made the connection before, but I also got a little information about ITEM and it seems that group is made by 3 other girls beside the meltdowner… so they fit the profile perfectly."

"So, you mean I bumped into a psycho! "

"Seems likely, I wonder if it was on purpose…"

"How can you be so calm? We could've got killed!"

"Kyon kun, calm yourself, I understand you're worried, but there is no reason to panic, remember we were with Nagato san back then, so even if the meltdowner took action she could have taken care of it; not only that but her mission is to make Touma kun and Suzumiya san touch each other so I doubt that she would attack us directly when either of them are not around, that would most likely end up being detrimental for her."

"Ok…ok… you're right… sorry about losing my cool like that."

"Don't worry about that, but remember we have to remain calm at all cost, we cannot give the enemy that advantage."

"Enemy! We're in a war now?"

"Not really, but maybe it'd better if we started to think like we were in one."

As Koizumi was speaking one of the closed spaces in the distance started acting strangely, it kind of wobbled from side to side and even seemed like it was bouncing.

"I guess that must be him."

"Who?"

"Touma kun of course, we've been investigating him and that's what happens if he tries to enter a closed space."

"What? Why were you investigating him?"

"We were trying to see if his ability could be useful to the organization, but unfortunately that's not the case; whenever he goes to were a closed space is, he can walk thought it as if there was nothing there, and while the space itself becomes unstable when he's in it, it never disappears or anything, I suppose Nagato san's theory about Touma kun's power being of a lower scale than Suzumiya san was spot on."

"So he really can't destroy the universe… now that's a relief."

"True, but still the probabilities of it becoming unstable are too great, so under no circumstances he can touch Suzumiya san with his hand."

"Ok, leave it to me… you know Touma really is a strange one, his unluckiness and that weird right hand are proof of that, but I think he's a good person, so don't you think It would be better if we told him about this? "

"I'm still not sure, but I suppose we should consult that with the other members of the brigade; especially since Kanzaki san and Ichigo san seemed to know him a lot, so their input in this situation would be really valuable."

"Yeah, it's amazing how Touma seems to attract all these women and while I'm not sure what Misaka san and her sisters think about him, I'm pretty confident that at least Kanzaki san, Mikoto san and Index san like him a lot… it almost seems unfair to call someone like that unlucky… heck I wish I had three girls after me like that… hey why are you chuckling like that?"

"Oh sorry… I was just thinking how it's always easier to notice things when they are not happening to you…"

"What do you mean with that?"

"Nothing really, now Kyon kun I believe it's time that we end this meeting, it's quite late and tomorrow we have to meet with Suzumiya san early… Bye. " he started to leave.

"Hey, wait, what do you mean with what you just said?" The guy just waved his hand without even looking back… seriously, what's his problem?

**Sunday**

"You're late Kyon."

I arrived on the meeting spot dead last as usual, great I guess this means I'm going to have to pay the lunch today too.

"Sorry."

"Come on, I thought you said you wanted to take your duties more seriously, why don't you learn from Ichigo chan? She was so serious about this that she even brought a pair of night goggles."

I don't know, I think those are part of her clothes… I mean they fit her so perfectly that she actually looks weird when she doesn't wear them.

"…And Kaori neesan too, see that pole she has wrapped in cloth…" She moved closer and whispered "…it's actually a replica of a two meter long nodachi… you know just in case."

'Just in case' she says, Haruhi for a person that dedicates her life to find conspiracies and all that stuff you can be pretty gullible sometimes… oh well at least it seems she's on a good mood; by the way, I just have to comment on Kanzaki san's outfit, she was wearing a white t-shirt tied just below her breasts (and I don't think she's wearing a bra.), a pair of… I don't know it's like the right part are pants and the left part are shorts, that were way below her waist and a couple of cowboy boots for shoes… I don't get it, if this is what she usually wears then how come she was all embarrassed on Monday…? I swear she's almost as exposed with that… It must've been the skirt.

"Oh well, anyway…" She turned towards our new members "Ok Ichigo chan, Kaori neesan, today we'll be searching the city for any weird stuff we can find, in order to cover more terrain we'll divide in three groups chosen at random by drawing straws… any questions?"

Misaka san raised her hand.

"What is it Ichigo chan?"

"Does that count? Misaka points at a couple in the distance."

We all turned around only to find those two…

"Good morning Tsuruya san"

"Good morning Himechii… are you ready?"

"Yes… I'm ready …"

She searched on her clothes and pulled out a huge baton that had a taser on the tip and then made a pose that seemed like it came out from sailor moon.

"I even brought my wand"

"Perfect, now let's go before it's too late… Nyoro~n"

After that little exchange both girls left towards god knows where.

"Ehh… no Ichigo chan stuff like that doesn't count… I mean seriously what's with those two! " she cleared her throat "we are searching for supernatural phenomenon, you know like espers, aliens or time travelers."

Kanzaki san raised her hand next.

"What is it Kaori neesan?"

"What about magicians? Are you not interested in those?"

Funny her voice almost sounded like she was… jealous, I guess she's a little sad her kind wasn't mentioned.

"Sure, why not? As long as it's something supernatural it counts."

Kanzaki san nodded happily.

"Well since there doesn't seems to be any more questions, let's proceed."

Haruhi pulled out several straws and so we drew them one by one…

"Ok, so the groups are: Kaori neesan and Mikuru chan, Yuki, Ichigo chan and Koizumi kun and finally Kyon and me, perfect… remember we'll meet in the café like always at noon, so don't be late."

She glared at me for some reason… what's that really necessary? I'm going to be with you for god's sake.

"Also, Mikuru chan , Yuki, Koizumi kun, remember our new recruits are with you, so please teach them everything I taught you guys."

That shouldn't take too long.

"Well… let's go."

So all the groups took their leave… I walked side by side with Haruhi yet I couldn't think of anything to say and she wasn't really trying either, but after a while she turned to me...

"Kyon, I've something I need to tell…"

"Meow!"

A white cat suddenly ran past us really fast.

"Sphinx, come back… hey watch out!"

I turned around only to be rammed by a little nun that was coming my way… we both fell on the floor.

"Index chan!"

The nun looked towards Haruhi, luckily she was complete unharmed since my body broke her fall.

"Ah… Haruhi san, Kyon san, have you seen Sphinx around here? "

"Sphinx? … Do you mean a white cat with a few spots?"

"Yes, something scared him and now I think I lost him…"

"Hey Index! Did you catch him…? Huh… Suzumiya san, Kyon san what are you guys doing here?

Great to make matters even better Touma was with her… he explained the situation to us; it seemed Index san's cat got scared by something unknown and ran away.

"We'll help you find him!"

"Really! Thanks a lot Haruhi san." Index san bowed a little.

"Haruhi, are you sure? I thought you wanted to search the city."

"Yes, like I said before it's our duty to help people in trouble…" she sighed "…and it's not like we'll find anything anyway."

"Ok, thanks a lot we appreciate the help." Touma bowed a little as well.

"There's no need for that, now let's move on, I think he went that way."

We ran together for a while (with me between Touma and Haruhi to prevent accidents) and we finally arrived near an abandoned factory (Funny, I don't think I've seen this building before) and right near the fence was the cat, it seemed he had calmed down; he was calmly licking his fur right in front of the entrance.

"Ah… Sphinx!"

Index san went near the cat and he didn't react, however just when she was about to pick it up, he yelled and ran away inside the factory.

"Sphinx… Where are you going?" Immediately after, she climbed the fence and went inside the building.

"Index, wait up!" And then Touma climbed the fence… and Haruhi too.

"What are you waiting for Kyon? Come here…

Crap… I don't like this, better to inform the others.

"Move it Kyon…"

No time for that it seems… wait weren't Misaka san's sisters following Touma, in that case…. I quickly scanned the area around me and found one of them spying at us from the distance; I made a sign with my hand and she looked at me and nodded… Great now that's taken care of, I better caught up with them… I've a really bad feeling about this...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

**Koizumi, Nagato and Misaka san:**

After being with Nagato and Misaka san for a few minutes, Koizumi couldn't help but feel a little… left out, both girls just walked together perfectly synchronized and didn't even seem to acknowledge his presence all that much, not only that but every once in a while they'd look at each other and nod, so it was obvious they were communicating somehow.

"Something's wrong?"

Both girls had just stopped walking completely and turned around at the same time.

"It seems there's trouble… Nagato says worried"

"What do you mean?"

"We received a report from Misaka 12854, it seems that Touma kun, Kyon kun, Suzumiya san and another subject went inside an abandoned factory after chasing a cat that was behaving strangely… Misaka informs of the situation."

Koizumi bit his thumb and made a troubled expression "Crap! I was too careless… Nagato san, Ichigo san I believe the best course of action would be to go there and make sure everything is alright."

They both nodded to show they agreed with him, as they were running towards the place Koizumi got close to Nagato.

"Nagato san, could you please send Asahina san a message, I hate to involve her in this, but Kanzaki san doesn't have a cell phone and if worse comes to worse we'll definitely need her help."

She nodded and little after that her eyes shined briefly "Done… Nagato informs."

They arrived in front of the facility near the same door Haruhi used to get in, however this time there were two girls standing in the entrance blocking the way, Koizumi recognized them as the ones that had been accompanying the meltdowner last week.

"Hello, I wonder if you could let us pass. We have some business to attend in this building."

One of the girls took a step forward, she was wearing a purple vest with a hood that barely let anyone see her face.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, I can't go into details but is dangerous right now…"

As she said those words there was a little explosion in one of the top floors of the main building,

"…see, you'll get hurt if you go in there."

As a few pieces debris were falling, Koizumi's expression changed, long gone was the gentle smile now replaced with a serious glare.

"Let's just get to the point already, you know why we are here and you also know it's foolish to get in our way, now if you could please just step aside peacefully."

The other girl emerged from behind the one that just talked, she had black hair and was kind of plain looking, to be honest she remind Koizumi of that girl that was hanging out with Tsuruya san recently, but this was not the time to think about that.

"Yes, it's true that under normal circumstances, it'd be impossible for us to stop you from entering for more than 10 seconds, but…" she pulled out a vial of liquid, drank it and her expression changed completely, her eyes were blank and it seemed like she was possessed "...with my ability , the impossible becomes easy."

She opened her arms and seemed to enchant something like Nagato always does, suddenly the area around them turned completely different, it looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

"Data jurisdiction space… how is this possible? Nagato ask confused."

"My AIM stalker allows me to memorize and track the position of any AIM field; I can also copy it to a certain degree." she waved her arms and several icicles made from the nearby fence flew towards them, Nagato quickly pushed Koizumi and Ichigo away before she set up a shield to stop them.

"Contact with the exterior broken, connection with the Misaka network ceased." Nagato speech pattern went back to normal as she quickly looked at Misaka san "Ichigo, give me battle support please"She nodded and immediately after both turned towards Koizumi.

"Ok, I understand, please take care of this you two." He stood up and moved away from the battlefield.

When he was out of the way, Misaka san quickly picked her bag and pulled out a Sub-Machine gun that was inside, she aimed as fast a she could and fired several round towards the black haired girl.

"Useless." The girl with the hood stood in front of her friend almost immediately and all the bullets literally bounced off her. "My offence armor won't break just with a few gun shots… although I do appreciate that you're using rubber ammo, wouldn't want anyone to get hurt over this."

The black haired girl shot yet another wave of icicles towards them, this time Nagato had already set up a shield that protected them without having to move, then she quickly made a sign to Misaka san who shoot once again, as the girl with the hood moved to protect her friend, Nagato dashed as fast as she could towards them, she tried to hit the black haired girl in the back of her head so she could render her unconscious, but the other one got in the way of her blow which was repelled by an strange substance.

"Nitrogen?"

As she said this, the black haired girl grabbed her friend and jumped back several meters into the air using yet another wave of icicles to cover her retreat, once they landed it was easy to note she looked tired and maybe a little sick, the hooded girl tried to support her to prevent her from falling.

"Takitsubo, are you ok?"

"Yes…" she calmed herself and recovered her composure "… I can still go on for a little longer."

They stood up and quickly took the formation they had been using before… just in time as Nagato and Misaka san were closing in on them.

"I see, judging by your behavior it's easy to conclude that you're not trying to win the fight, but rather you're satisfied with just stalling from time."

"That's right!..." the girl with the hood made a little pose with her arm extended with a peace sign and even blinked one of her eyes. "…We're not stupid you know, based on the info we got it's impossible for us to defeat you in combat even with AIM stalker copying your ability because its usage is limited, but that's not needed anyway, isn't that right Takitsubo?"

"It's correct Kinuhata…" the girl with the black hair also made the same pose that the other one was making. "…we even have orders to retreat as soon as the situation becomes dangerous."

Nagato's mouth arched a little bit downwards "I assume that the fact that you're so willing to participate in meaningless conversation in the middle of a fight it's also part of your strategy to buy time and prevent something fatal happening to you."

Both girls nodded. "Yep, you guessed it; it's a brilliant plan, we even set up that meeting a week ago so Takitsubo could practice a little before the fight and used her detection abilities to make sure we could intercept you without problems."

Nagato's mouth arched a little bit more to the point that it was almost noticeable for the casual observer… I guess she didn't like to be fooled like this. "Ichigo, give me your hand." Misaka san obeyed her and once they touched a few sparks came out of their hands.

"Direct connection accomplished, initiating 'Railgun' emulation program." As she said this words, Ichigo san's eyes suddenly shined and became brownish like her Oneesama's were, she quickly snapped her fingers and a huge bolt of lightning fell on the two girls shocking them almost to the point of unconsciousness, they both kneeled on the floor supporting each other from falling completely, while the girl with the hood (which had just burned enough to show her short brownish hair completely.) tried to speak.

"What was that? There wasn't anything about this in our data, that girl shouldn't be able to use her powers like this."

"It's a secret program I've developing in cooperation with the members of the Misaka network, the idea is to utilize my superior processing capabilities to help any member achieve power of similar scale to that of the level 5 esper Misaka Mikoto, it's was made to be used in emergencies that required to get superior firepower for a brief amount of time, but since access to the network had been cut off it was only possible to accomplish it through a direct connection. "

Nagato once again grabbed Ichigo's hand.

"Now, I only augmented her processing capabilities 15 times when I just used it, according to the documentation I was provided by the system administrator, 20000 sisters are equivalent in power to 128 railguns, so I could easily augment her powers 156.25 times without any kind of problem… I suggest you reconsider keeping this data jurisdiction space in place."

They both yelled and hugged each other as their hands sparked once again.

"Ok, ok we'll let it go, Takitsubo was about to reach her limit anyway."

The space around them suddenly returned to complete normal; however there was something odd about the sky.

"The position of the sun does not match… you used a time distortion program to make time in the data space flow slower than in regular…"

She turned towards the girls once again but they had fled the scene, as she was going to pursue them Koizumi stopped her.

"Let them, go, we have wasted enough time as it is."

"Yes you're correct…" her eyes shined briefly "…Nagato agrees."

As soon as she reconnected to the network they all looked at the building and noticed a huge hole could be seen on the top floor.

"We better move on, it obvious they need our support over there."

Koizumi tried to run towards the place, but…

"Wait, I've an idea that will take us there faster… Nagato says confident…"

* * *

**Asahina san and Kanzaki san:**

A few minutes had passed since both girls separated from the rest of the brigade and they still hadn't said a thing to each other, in the middle of this uncomfortable silence it was Asahina san who spoke first.

"Kanzaki san, may I ask you something?"

"What is it Asahina san?"

"I was wondering if you could listen to me and maybe give me some advice."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well… you see…" she took a deep breath before continuing "… I'm kind of jealous of you… I mean you've only been with us for less than a week and Suzumiya san already appreciates you more than me."

"I see… It's true that thanks to that incident with the Kendo club captain she seems have taken me as a role model, but I don't think that means the she likes me more than you."

"But… ever since then she hasn't made you wear any embarrassing costumes and after the match she even let you get dressed by yourself… while me… I'm still just her toy…"

"That doesn't mean she likes me more… it only means that she now sees me as an older sister, and also I don't think you're a toy to her, more like a younger sister she likes to tease."

"But, she once said that I was…"

"Asahina san, I think Haruhi san it's the kind of person that's not good at communicating with other people, she gets carried away easily by the situation and might say something she doesn't really mean, so I wouldn't take all she says literally."

"I suppose that makes sense but then… I… I just can't understand her!"

"Of course you can't… because God always acts in mysterious ways."

Both girls looked at each other eyes and chuckled.

"I feel a little better now, thank you Kanzaki san."

"No need for formalities, you can call me Kaori."

"Ok Kaori… you can call me by my name too if you like."

"Of course Mikuru… "

"By the way there is something else I want to ask you…"

"What could it be?"

"I don't want to sound rude but I'm just too curious about this… how come you were so embarrassed on Monday? No offense, but that outfit you're wearing now it's just as revealing. "

"Well that's…" Kaori blushed a little "…it was the skirt… I'm just no good with those things, especially when they're so short, I mean it feels like everyone can see my…"

In that instant Asahina san's phone received a message.

"It's Nagato san, it seems Suzumiya san and Kyon kun are together with Touma san and another girl inside a nearby factory… Koizumi kun suspects it may be a trap set up by that group that's after us."

"I see… we better move on then, there's a chance they might need our help."

"Kaori… you can go there by yourself… I'm not good at fighting so I'll just get in your way."

"I'm afraid that's not a good idea, there's the chance the enemy is aware of us and they might even take you hostage if you're alone, so it's better if we stick together."

"But…"

"Look, don't worry about it, maybe this is all a misunderstanding and if anything bad happens I promise I'll protect you."

Asahina san blushed a little "Ok Kaori I'm counting on you..."

Both girls ran towards the factory, however they arrived at the back of the facility and needed to go through another building before arriving to where Haruhi was.

"It's kind of creepy, don't you think Kaori?"

"Sure it is, with all this machinery lying around."

"I guess this must be where they assembled the toys."

"What do you mean? The sign outside said this used to be a clothes factory."

"Then why are all this dolls lying around..."

In front of Asahina san was a stuffed rabbit, she tried to pick it up but…

"Watch out Mikuru!"

Kanzaki san pushed her away as the stuffed toy exploded, they flew several meters in the air, crashing into the floor violently, Asahina san was the first to stand up completely unharmed, not only had Kanzaki san protected her from the explosion but from the fall as well.

"Kaori, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" She tried to stand up but stopped midway, her face showing horrible pain.

"Let me see your back!" She forcibly turned Kanzaki san around and noticed a good part of her back was burnt together with a little bit of her left arm.

"Kaori…"

"Don't worry, this is nothing! Concentrate in our surroundings instead."

She looked around and noticed there were hundreds of dolls just like the one that just exploded scattered around the whole place, to make matters worse Kanzaki san had thrown away her nodachi to protect her.

"Crap, I missed… oh well nothing that can't be fixed."

Kanzaki san managed to stand up this time and noticed a blond girl with a beret that just appeared near the exit of the building.

"Who are you?"

"I am the guardian of this place…" She bowed"…I'm afraid I can't let you pass."

"I see… I suppose I was too naïve."

She turned her face slightly towards Asahina san so she could see her without losing sight of her target.

"Mikuru… run!"

"But Kaori…"

"Run! I'll take care of this!"

Looking at how serious she was… Asahina san could only nod and run away towards the entrance.

"So I guess it's just you and me… oh well according to the data we got that other girl is useless anyway."

Kanzaki san ignored her and tried to chant a spell but…

"I won't let you!" The blond girl pulled out several portable missiles and fired them towards her, she had no choice but to dodge and despite the pain she managed to move out of the way, however… _"shhhhhh"_ she heard a buzzing sound behind her, she tried to move again, but the pain from her burns prevented her from doing this fast enough and a second later a doll exploded launching her several meters into the air.

"I don't know the details but our informant told me that I shouldn't let you do that… what are you a witch or something?" she laughed.

Kanzaki san managed to stand up, but the pain in her back was getting to the point of being unbearable… noticing this, the blond girl began moved walking towards her.

"You know, this is almost disappointing… I kind of expected a nice fight but I guess this is what you get for protecting useless weaklings."

"You! Mikuru is not useless!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever… just die!"

The blond girl let several weird tools fall on the floor over some white tape, quickly tracing it with her eyes, Kanzaki san noticed they were connected to several dolls positioned right behind her…

"I see… so this is how it works…" She couldn't help but smile at how easy she had been tricked.

"Goodbye…" The blond girl laughed, but… "Kaori!" she turned around to see Asahina san tossing Kanzaki san's nodachi towards her, she tried to catch it but was unable as it landed securely on its owner hands, who didn't waste time in using it…

"Nanasen!"

She drew her sword and several almost invisible strings sliced through the concrete of the building and stopped the chain reaction in the tape, however they didn't stop there as they moved towards the blond girl (who was now yelling gibberish.) but fortunately for her Asahina san jumped and pushed her out of the way.

"What are you doing Mikuru?"

Asahina san just looked directly into her eyes.

"Thou shall not kill Kaori."

Kanzaki san chuckled briefly.

"Indeed thou shall not." They laughed together.

The blond girl looked at them confused, but before she had a chance to move Asahina san hit the nape of her neck rendering her completely unconscious.

"Wow! Mikuru, where did you learn to do that?"

She let the girl fall into the floor and then turned around and made a little pose "its classified information"

Kanzaki san smiled and tried to answer but the pain from her burns had finally beaten her, she kneeled on the floor trying to rest, Asahina san got close to her to help.

"Kaori, are you ok? Sorry because of me you had to…"

"I'm… ok… Mikuru… tell me something… are you an esper of some sort?"

"Kaori , that's… classified information." However her body betrayed her as she shook her head slightly.

"I see… then I guess you can help me with this…"

She helped Kanzaki san move towards a nearby office and went to gather several objects in the factory she requested, when she returned, Kanzaki san had drawn a weird circle with a star on a table, and then took all the items that Asahina san brought her and placed them in the circle.

"What's this Kaori?"

"This represents the room we are in… Mikuru listen to me we're going to perform a magic spell that will heal me, so I need you to follow my instructions perfectly, bad timing could cause reverse effects."

She swallowed "Ok, just tell me what I should do."

"Please follow my chant…"

They recited a spell together and suddenly the objects in the table began resonating with the ones on the room, it felt like the entire place was shaking.

"It linked… Mikuru, Imagine a golden angel, a figure with two beautiful wings."

Asahina san did as she was told, she tried to visualize an angel with all of her strength, as she was doing it felt like there was another presence in the room, she opened her eyes and saw the figure of the angel she was imagining, completely marveled at the scene she saw how Kanzaki san levitated a little and some weird energy moved around the room, it focused on her wounds completely healing them and even fixing her clothes… when it was done both the angel and the energy disappeared and Kanzaki san fell slightly into her arms.

"Kaori, are you ok?"

"Thank you Mikuru, you saved me not once but twice today."

"Don't worry about that, you protected me as you promised, so it was the least I could do… but what did just happened?"

Kanzaki san stood up on her own and fixed her clothes.

"We created a field using the unseen mana of this place; since it succeeded it was possible to heal my wounds."

"I see…" she wanted to ask what she meant with "reverse effect" but that wasn't important right now as suddenly a huge explosion could be heard from the direction of the main building.

"Ok, now that we are done, it's time to go where Haruhi san is…"

"Yes, let's go…"

* * *

**Touma, Haruhi, Index san and me:**

We have just entered the facility when I started to notice something strange about this building, the whole place was arranged oddly, I mean the furniture and other stuff was laid out as if trying to guide us towards the next floor, not to mention that Index san's cat was acting too weird, every time we tried to approach him, even when he was completely calmed he would get scared and run away when we got too close, definitely not a natural reaction in the slightest.

"Come on Sphinx, what's wrong with you?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with him? It's like he's afraid of you…"

"Of course he's not; I don't know why he's acting like that…"

Touma moved near her and grabbed her shoulder "Come on, Index he just went up another floor, we'll have time to figure this out once we catch him."

Great we have to go up again, the worst part is that I'm the only one that looks tired, Index san, Haruhi and Touma weren't even sweating.

"Come on Kyon, move it… "She sighed"…Are you tired? Because if you are then starting tomorrow I'm putting you through special training, as a member of the brigade you have to be in better shape."

Great… just great… "Of course I'm not!" I ran past her and climbed the stairs, I've to admit, I not sure if it's on purpose but she definitely knows how to motivate people.

We finally reached the top floor and it seemed the cat was getting tired of running, he was panting near a door that led to an office.

"There you go!"

Index san finally managed to grab him.

"At last, that little thing sure runs fast, I've never expected to have to climb to the top floor."

"Sure, thank you for your help, Haruhi san, Kyon san." She hugged her cat so tenderly… you know such adorable sight almost made this whole thing worth it.

"Don't worry about that…" Haruhi kind of blushed a little "…it's not like we did much anyway."

"Oh well, we better get out of here before we get in trouble, huh?" Touma tried to open the stairway's door only to find it was locked "That's weird; I could swear we came through here…" he tried to pull but it only caused the handle to broke in his hand. "Crap! this thing is made out of steel so we won't be able to force it open, now how are we going to get out of here? Such misfortune…"

"Calm down; this place has been abandoned for a while so something like this is to be expected…" Haruhi looked around "… I doubt this is the only staircase, so we just have to look for another one, worst case scenario we'll just call 119."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, better get moving then." Touma moved away from the door and tried to lead the way through the hallway… before leaving however I just had to check something that called my attention… hmpf… the lock on the door was hot and it seemed like it was melted a little bit near the frame.

"What are you doing Kyon? Let's go!"

"Yeah…" Ok there is just no way this is not a trap… now what should I do? I've already contacted the others so I could only wait for them to arrive, but… damn I feel so useless right now.

As I was too busy lamenting my own misfortune, I swear I could see a ray of light going right in front of me, the thing hit one of the walls that lead to the outside and caused a little explosion.

"What was that that?"

"Atom Breaker or Melt Downer, basically it's just a bunch of electrons transformed into unstable matter, useful for blowing things up, melting locks, creating artificial limbs and of course scaring little kittens from a distance."

"Oh well thanks…" wait a minute I think I've heard that voice before.

"The name's Mugino Shizuri, a pleasure to meet you."

I turned around and found none other than the girl I bumped into the other day, unlike then however today her expression was completely changed, she looked like a tiger that's just ready to jump on her prey, I swear that sight was enough for me to completely freak out, unfortunately that felling wasn't shared by my dear leader.

"Wow! That was awesome Mugino san, how did you do that? Can you do it again?"

Haruhi, how much do I wish I had the courage to tell you to shut up.

"With pleasure…" she extended her arms and then made a little gesture with her fingers.

"Watch out!" Touma pushed Haruhi away with his left hand and then used his right hand to stop the light beam that was coming this way. "Kyon san, please take Index and Haruhi san and run, I'm going to try to block her attacks so we have a chance to escape."

"Heh? But that's no fun, I want to see this, it's too good to miss." The worst part is that despite the obvious attempt to kill us just now, Haruhi looked the happiest I've seen her in months.

"It's not fun if they're trying to kill you stupid."

"Hey! Who are you calling stu… hey what are you doing!" that's it! I've had enough; I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her through the hallway, Index san was running beside us, while Touma was behind us running and blocking the energy beams she was shooting at us, luckily she only shot one at a time and with a little delay between them so Touma could easily use his right hand to stop them without problem.

"Run… run or you will be well done… "She chuckled "...you know, I've always wanted to say that." Mugino walked really slowly while laughing like a psycho, it was obvious she was enjoying this… and she wasn't the only one at that.

"Man this is great, do you think she's an assassin sent by some unknown organization to stop the brigade before it becomes too big? Or maybe she's from the future trying to eliminate one of our descendants by killing his ancestor… I've always known that my bloodline would end in greatness."

Haruhi, please for the love of everything that is right and clean in the world **shut up!**

"By the way Touma kun, how come you can block her attacks? I knew you were hiding something."

"Now is not the time for that!" we finally arrived at a door that led to another staircase, as we approach it to try to open it, one giant ray of light far bigger than anything we had seen before went through the walls of the building hitting the door, blowing it up together with the walls, floor and a pretty good chunk of the ceiling.

"Now you're out of places to run…" We turned around only to find that she was there right at the end of the hallway around 10 or so meters away from us. "…now if you just do as I say then we can end this quickly and without too much pain." She smiled sadistically.

"Never, I don't know what you want but we'll never surrender to you… hmgpf… hmmght" I covered Haruhi's mouth; I don't care if she bites me but I just have to stop her from talking.

Touma got in front us with his right hand in a defensive position. "What do you want?"

"I want you to touch that noisy girl with your right hand."

"Huh…" Touma raised his head confused "…that's it? you blew up half the building just for that? Why?"

"Yeah, our client hired us to do it, and I like to do things the flashy way." She moved her hand through her hair and made a disturbing grin as she said this.

"You were hired? You know, do you honestly believe that you can trust someone that tells you to force two people to touch each other? And what this about a client? no offense but if a girl like you talks about a client paying her to do shady stuff then I can't help but think **very** badly about your morals; look I know that some brands are really expensive and there is social pressure to have them, but if you really believe that you can go around blowing up buildings and forcing people to touch each other to satisfy some weird guy fetish just to get a little money then I'm going to have to break that illusion."

So this is what he meant when he said he liked long speeches… that wasn't that long.

The girl just sighed "you done? Now if you won't cooperate then I'll just have to force you to…"

"Wait!" right behinds us and from one of the holes in the ceiling, Nagato appeared, she was carrying Koizumi and Misaka san in each of her arms and… are those angel wings on her back?

"Tenshi san! Misaka... Imouto? What are you doing here?"

"hmgf…" Haruhi hit me with her elbow to escape from my grab… ouch! "…Wow, Yuki is an angel? cool! Today is the best day ever!"

They landed on the floor and joined our group; however despite the obvious numeric advantage Mugino still looked confident.

"Already… I really thought those two could keep you people occupied a little longer, oh well no big deal…"

"Nanasen!"

Mugino stretched her arm to her side and suddenly one giant shield made of energy appeared, blocking several near invisible strings that moved through the concrete.

"Haruhi san!"

Suddenly from the other side of the building Kanzaki san appeared with her sword pointed towards Mugino, Asahina san was right behind her as well.

"Kaori neesan, you too…? man today just keeps getting better and better."

"I guess Frenda failed too… oh well I suppose there is just not helping it… I admit defeat…"

Still smiling she raised her arms into the air and then from one of the sleeves of her coat she brought out a weird card.

"...Not!" she tossed the card into the air and shot at it, upon contact her beam turned into dozens all of them directed at Haruhi.

"Careful Suzumiya san!"

Touma moved to get her out of the way, we tried to stop him but it was no use, thanks to the other beams it was impossible for any of us to prevent his right hand making contact with her left arm… you know today is the first time in my entire life I resent that a girl is wearing a sleeveless shirt.

As they touched, I couldn't move or talk, it was like the entire universe just stopped in its place, suddenly I started to see and hear static, like the ones in those old TVs, the thing began to grow larger and noisier until I couldn't see or hear anything but that, it was horrible… after a short while all the static quickly concentrated into one place and disappeared… such misfortune.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

"Wake up…"

What…? I felt a horrible headache and could barely maintain my consciousness as I laid somewhere unable to even open my eyes; last thing I remember is Touma touching Haruhi with his right hand and then everything was dark…

"…Wake up!"

Funny, I hear someone calling for me in the distance, her voice sounds familiar yet I can't recognize it, I know I've heard it somewhere before, but it's not my mother or…

"…Wake up! Wake up! Wake up you stupid!"

I was suddenly brought back to life as I felt a sharp pain in my face, forcing my eyes open I could see an expensive looking high heel pressing against me and following the pretty sexy leg that it belonged to back to its owner, I managed to see who… crap!

"Enjoying the view? Get up already you useless dolt! "

As the shoe left my face and kicked me in the stomach (ouch!), I stood up as fast as I could only to find myself face to face with none other than the girl that just tried to kill me… the meltdowner herself.

"Good, now I believe your name was… Kyon kun, right?"

I was completely petrified and unable to move a muscle, just her presence was enough to make me feel ill, it was like my dead was imminent and I could do nothing to prevent it, not even Asakura Ryoko could cause this kind of terror.

"…Right? … Answer me!"

"Yes ma'am, that's correct!"I stood straight like a soldier and remained immobile, not even bothering to tell her my real name (and to be honest I was so scared that I couldn't even remember it).

"Good, you can talk… now do you have any idea where we are?"

"Huh… where…? We are in the plaza right? "I looked around the almost familiar landscape and noticed something was really off "…A closed space? No, it's different somehow…"

It seemed like one but at the same time didn't, I mean everything was grey and all, but the whole place was kind of… broken, the buildings were halfway done, the streets lights were missing the top part and even the floor pavement was uneven in several places… the best way to describe it would be as an incomplete world.

"A closed space? What are you talking about?"

I snapped back from my daze as I remembered my current predicament… you know the one about having a psycho girl right in front of me…

"…I'm waiting…" She stared at me in a way that made me thankful that looks couldn't kill.

"Yes sorry ma'am… a closed space it's kind of like an alternate dimension."

"Ok… and why are we here?" ´_Glare´_

"I don't know, I swear! This stuff it's only supposed to appear when Haruhi is angry or depressed…"

"Hmm… what do you mean?" finally her face changed her horrible _'I'll kill you if you piss me off!'_ expression for one that showed curiosity and interest… thanks to that I managed to relax just a little bit.

"Yeah, she has the power to make things like this… she's not aware of them though…"

"_'She has the power?'_ what's that supposed to mean? There wasn't anything about this in our data… I swear I'm going to kill that good for nothing blond that thought accepting this mission was a good idea…"

She mumbled something to herself and turned to me once again.

"…Ok, I'm not sure I understand this completely… you claim that noisy girl is responsible for this messed up world… let's say I believe you, then… what is she? I've never heard of an esper with this kind of ability, not to mention I doubt even a level 5 could pull this off. "

"Well the thing is that Haruhi is kind of… a god? The ultimate esper? The key to evolution? … Heck I'm not even sure what she is myself… I guess Haruhi is just Haruhi, a girl that can manipulate reality as she sees fit without even knowing it…"

She stared at me, getting really close to my face as if she was inspecting every single detail of it… you know I haven't noticed before because of the whole psycho thing, but seeing her up close like this I had to admit… she was beautiful, maybe not on Asahina san or Kanzaki san level but she had this 'high class lady' aura around her that was just really sexy and attractive… wait, this is not the time for that!

"Ok, so you're telling me that this 'closed space' was created by your friend, yet you don't know why or how it appeared, not to mention you're unable to properly explain what she is… so why should I listen to…"

In that second a loud explosion could be heard in the distance… looking at the source I saw one of the things that I thought this place was missing…

"A celestial!"

Well kind of, it only had one arm and no head… I guess that explains why he's rampaging like crazy.

"A… what? Crap! This mission totally blows! And here I thought I could just breeze through to it and get back to civilization as soon as possible, I hate this… This backwater town! … This stupid pointless mission! … this… this… everything!"

"Listen, I don't think he can see us, so let's just leave him be and…"

My words fell on deaf ears as I watched how the girl shot a huge light beam towards the giant that hit him right in the chest.

"Take that you stupid… thing!"

Through the smoke we could see the celestial appeared to be completely unharmed, not only that but he looked really pissed (well about as pissed as a blue giant with no head can look.) and to make matters worse, he seemed to have figured out our position and began moving toward us…

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!..." Mugino just kept shooting at the thing doing absolutely no damage at all; he got right in front of her and tried to hit the ground where she was standing with his arm.

"Kyaaah!"

She created an energy shield that prevented the blow from killing her but it shattered completely after the first hit and the giant was preparing for a second one…

"What are you doing? Run!"

She couldn't, the murderous psycho was now reduced to a little girl who kneeled on the ground shaking and could only powerlessly stare at her aggressor in horror while cowering in fear… you know I've to admit it, I thought about just leaving her to die, she got us into this mess, ignored my warnings and even tried to kill me, she brought this upon herself!

"…h…h…h…help… me…"

But I'm not that kind of person… I ran as fast as I could and picked her up just in time as we dodged the giant's blow by a millimeter, luckily as the shockwave caused by it was enough to throw us a couple of meters into the air; I managed to land perfectly and flee from the scene as quickly as I could (thank god she was pretty light.) when I got to a distance that seemed safe I carefully placed her on the ground and took seat right in front of her… crap, Haruhi's right, I'm in horrible shape, to think I'd be this tired after that little run.

"You saved me…"

As I was panting heavily I noticed Mugino was saying something and when I turned around to face her, I witnessed one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my life.

"…Thank you Kyon kun…" her murderous attitude dissipated in just a second and what remained was a gorgeous smile that was almost too beautiful for words… crap! Not this! Everything but this!

"…I'm sorry I was being rude before, but I was just having a bad day, let's start over, I'm Mugino Shizuri, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah… same here Mugino san."

"Actually about that Kyon, I'd be grateful if you could call me by my name."

Holy crap she's blushing… and dropping honorifics too… I'm so screwed!

"_Her personality is extremely unstable and she can go from a kind, gentle girl to a murderous psycho that doesn't care about eliminating people that get in her way."_

Thank you for not mentioning she can also change the other way around Koizumi!

"I said… I'd be grateful if you could call me by my name Kyon!" She glared at me and for a second I could see the killer aura coming back.

"Yes… Shizuri sama" _'Glare'_ "…san" _'Glare'_ "... chan?" _'Glare'_ "…Shizuri…?"

She slowly blushed and looked away embarrassed… a gesture that did not fit her image at all… come on Mugino, you're supposed to be an 'Ojousama', act like one! Ok, I have to stop hanging out with Taniguchi… forever!

"Could you please say it again?"

Ok, this is too much, go back to the psycho… please, she was way less creepy than this.

"I said… Could you please say it again Kyon?" _'Glare'_

I take it back! I take it back! The sweet girl is fine, I like her…

"Shizuri."

She blushed again and seemed like she was going to say something else but stopped as we heard someone clearing his throat in the distance.

"Am I interrupting something?"

We turned around to find Koizumi looking at us… thank god; I don't think I've ever been this happy to see him… Mugino for her part pointed at him annoyed.

"You're another one of the noisy girl friends right? The one that belongs to that backwater esper organization."

He got a little closer to us with his serious face on "I suppose so, although I wouldn't call my organization 'backwater' after all our abilities are actually useful in this place, can't say the same thing about yours right?."

Ouch! I guess saying bad stuff about Koizumi's organization doesn't sit well with him… I'll take note of that, it could come useful in the future.

Mugino took the insult calmly; she stood up and slowly moved her hand through her hair before speaking with an overconfident smile.

"Yeah, I just checked and my powers are not particularly useful against the things that live here… haven't tried to see if they are still effective on humans yet though, but I'm sure they'll work just fine..."

They stared at each other for a while before Koizumi went back into his usual smile. "Now, I believe it's not the time for this, we better focus on solving the problem at hand first and then we can debate all you want."

"Agreed" Mugino showed him a smile not that different from his own.

"Great, I propose that we call a truce and cooperate until we find a way to get out of here."

"Well, my mission is already accomplished so I guess there is no point in fighting… I accept your proposal."

They looked at each other with their fake smiles on and… that was it, no more confrontation or anything… Man, he sure knows how to deal with girls like her, good to see all that time kissing Haruhi's behind was not wasted.

"Great, now that's out of the way, Kyon kun could you please tell me about your situation."

He got really close to me as he usually does, however my new fan didn't liked that gesture and in a way that could only be described as 'not so gently' pulled me by my arm away from him and closer to her.

"Could you please back off a little? **My** Kyon doesn't swing **that** way…"

Well, I'm not sure about being hers, but the last part I think I can agree with.

"… He swings **my** way!"

Or maybe not… after that weird incident; I managed to tell Koizumi (from an actually normal distance for once) everything that happened… I skipped the part about Mugino crying for help though... for safety reasons.

"I see."

"How about you?"

"Well I just woke up and heard an explosion in the distance, trying to find out the cause I stumbled with both of you, nothing remarkable really."

Mugino separated from us a little to check the surroundings.

"So, do you have any idea of how to get out of here?"

"I'm not sure, I believe our best bet would be to inspect the closed space carefully, if we can find what's causing it then getting out is just as easy as fixing the problem."

"Sounds reasonable I guess…" She moved near me and clung to my arm as couples on TV usually do "… shall we go then?"

I have a question, how do you say to a girl that you're not interested in her because she's mentally unstable and could kill you if she ever had the wrong mood swing, without her murdering you in the process?

"I said… Shall we go then Kyon?" _'Glare'_

"Yes, sorry let's go!" Anyone… guess I'm screwed then…

As we moved through the closed space we got to see more of the 'incompleteness' of it, entire buildings cut off in the middle, some of them were missing the base and the top floors were floating in the sky, quite a sight really and it wasn't only that; cars, roads, benches, pretty much anything you'd find in a walk through the city was the same… well everything but people that is.

"Amazing…"

Mugino got closer to one of the floating buildings and moved her hand through where the walls should be.

"I wonder why everything is like this?"

"It's just a theory, but I believe this was caused by Suzumiya san and Touma kun touching each other."

She turned around to face Koizumi "What do you mean?"

"Well you see Mugino san, Suzumiya san has the capability of altering the universe as she sees fit, while Touma kun has the ability to negate any supernatural phenomenon that comes into contact with his right hand… Now I believe that when they touched Suzumiya san created this closed space for some reason, and because Touma kun is in contact with her therefore negating it, both the force of creation and the one of destruction conflicted with each other, eventually balancing out in this space where we are in."

"So it's my fault." she made a frown and stomped on the ground "Damn it! I knew we shouldn't have accepted this mission, it was just too weird… how could I be so stupid to let Frenda convince me like that?" She suddenly seemed as if she remembered something and changed her frown for a smile before looking my way "oh well…" then she hugged my arm again "…at least something really good came out of this… right Kyon?"

"Yeah… guess so…"

"Hurray! I didn't have to repeat myself this time!"

She closed her eyes and snuggled against my arm, rubbing her chest to it before letting go, the grin on her face making clear she knew the reaction that gesture caused on me… what can I say? I'm a weak man…

"Mugino san, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what did you mean when you said the mission was weird?"

She changed back to her frown "Well, details are supposed to be classified, but… the hell with that! I thought it was weird because… it was a mission to make two random people touch each other… It doesn't get any weirder than that! Especially if it has to be specifically with his right hand and the girl have several extremely powerful bodyguards with strange abilities that go beyond what a regular esper can do."

"What about your client, who is it?"

"No idea, I've never met him, but judging by the size of the reward I'd say he's pretty rich and the quality of the info was outstanding so he probably has some good connections within the underworld."

"I see, Thank you Mugino san."

She made a gesture with her shoulders and then blinked at me with a smile before getting distracted by another one of this world oddities, a fire hydrant that was missing everything but the top part, yet it was still leaking water… as she got close to inspect it Koizumi took the chance to whisper at me.

"I must admit I'm surprised, I never thought you'd manage to get someone like the meltdowner to fall for you, guess you must be pretty happy… I mean just yesterday you were complaining about wanting more female affection and now Mugino san seems very eager to give that to you."

"Ha ha… very funny…" must… resist… urge… to break… face!

"No really, if that weren't the case then this whole situation would be far more complicated; thank god the shock of being near death and being saved by you caused that reaction."

"What…? How do you know that?"

He made his usual smile with that shoulder gesture I hate so much "I saw the entire scene with the celestial, I wanted to intervene but you saved her before I had the chance… kind of glad I didn't act sooner or else I might have ended stealing your new lover's heart by accident."

Jerk! I swear when we get out of here you'll pay for this… "So, that's why we haven't seen that giant again."

"Yeah, I took care of him while you were doing your 'magic' with the meltdowner; it was a little tougher than usual, but luckily since it was missing a few body parts it wasn't a problem."

"I see, I suppose I should thank you then."

"No problem." After saying these words he distanced himself from me as Mugino had finished examining the fire hydrant and was coming back to me with a smile on her face.

"Wow, this place really is something…"

"Nanasen!"

Mugino's face changed to a battle expression as she extended her arm and created an energy shield just in time to block several strings that were aiming at her head.

"You know, yelling when you're trying to surprise your opponent is a really bad idea, it totally defeats the point of doing a sneak attack."

I looked towards the source of the strings and found not only Kanzaki san but Nagato as well; they quickly got in between me and Mugino assuming a battle position.

"Stand back you two, let me and Nagato san take care of her."

Mugino looked at them with her psycho face on. "Ha! I accepted the truce, but if you're planning to get in between me and **my** Kyon, then bring it on! I'll rip you both to shreds!"

"You bi…"

"Stop it!" All the girls turned their attention towards me while still on their guard.

"Nagato, Kanzaki san, I know this might sound a little weird but Mugi… _'Glare'_ …I mean Shizuri is cooperating with us right now, so there is no need to fight."

They looked at me as if I was crazy.

"That's nonsense, Kyon san, this girl is obviously a threat!" She grabbed her nodachi tighter ready to attack at any moment.

"Please wait Kanzaki san, Kyon kun is right, we formed an agreement to cooperate until we resolve this problem, so please lower your sword, there is no point in meaningless conflict."

She stared at Mugino for a while before sighing "Ok, but I'll keep an eye on her…"

Both girls reluctantly lowered their guard while Mugino's face changed back into her regular one.

"Great, now could you please tell the number 3 look alike to stop pointing that gun at me?"

Ah? As I was wondering what she meant, Misaka san appeared behind Mugino with a sub-machine gun in her hands, she quickly made her way towards Nagato's side and said something to her.

"She doesn't seem to be hiding any more weapons… Misaka reports her observations."

"Good" She turned towards us "Please explain this situation to us."

"Huh? Nagato what happened with your…"

"Connection with the network is impossible right now so there is no need to maintain the communication protocol."

"Then why…?"

"It's Misaka´s endearing character trait… Misaka explains her habits."

After that I told them what happened since I woke up, including the encounter with the celestial, the truce and even Koizumi's theory about this place, everything… ok… I skipped the part about Mugino crying for help again, I like the way my head is attached to the rest of my body thank you…

"I see, your theory about the origins of this closed space does fit within the data I managed to gather, if we take it in consideration with my own observations then we can probably come up with a way to return to the universe where we came from…"

As Nagato was explaining, Mugino got closer to me.

"Does she always talk like that? She hasn't said anything important yet but I already have trouble following her."

"You get used to it after a while…"

I was going to say something else but I stopped as I had the feeling Nagato was glaring at us... scary, I must remember to never interrupt her again…

"…it's extremely probable that said universe still exists completely intact in another dimensional plane, however I cannot assure that it will remain that way for very long."

"Why?"

"I believe that this space was created by Suzumiya Haruhi's own subconscious as way to protect her existence and maintain the status quo of the universe when she felt that it was threatened by Kamijou Touma's right hand, usually this new reality would have replaced the older one already, however since her powers are being negated the process has been slowed down significantly, but…"

She moved towards the fire hydrant that Mugino was looking at before they arrived.

"…We examined this area 20 minutes ago, back then this fire hydrant was not leaking water and it was severally smaller than it is now… it's completing itself, I have noticed this behavior in several other objects in this world, so the conclusion we can draw from this is that Suzumiya Haruhi is creating this universe at a speed that is outpacing Kamijou Touma negation rate."

Kanzaki san nodded "Wouldn't surprise me, I've seen his ability being beaten by a spell before, granted it was one of the highest class with the same power as the legendary dragon of Saint George but still nothing compared to the might of God herself. "

"In any case the best way to prevent a new universe for being born would be to return to the old one and stop the contact between Suzumiya Haruhi and Kamijou Touma, once we do that then the reason for this closed space to exist would be eliminated and it'd most likely be destroyed as a result."

Well… that sounds easy… I guess…

"So do you have a plan on how to do that Nagato?"

"Stopping the contact between them shouldn't be harder than removing Kamijou Touma's hand from Suzumiya Haruhi's arm, the problem is how to get to the dimension where they are; usually I would contact the Integrated Data Sentient Entity and consult the database to get the appropriate method to travel across dimensions; however that's impossible right now."

"So we're stranded here…"

We all sighed together.

"Guess so…"

As we were standing there trying to think of a way out of this mess, Mugino took the chance to grab my arm again, she didn't say anything this time but just snuggled against me and rested her head on my shoulder as if trying to sleep… Ok, I've to admit; when she acts cute like that it almost makes me forget she's a psycho killer… **almost.**

As I was enjoying the view (and the sensation) of her doing that I felt a horrible murderous aura aimed at me for just a second, looking for the source I noticed Nagato was staring at us silently; Mugino opened her eyes to look at her only to close them again before rubbing her body against me making herself even more comfortable, completely oblivious of the situation or maybe she just didn't care, I don't know…

"Nagato san, I've a question for you."

Nagato stare was broken by Kanzaki san, she turned her sight towards her so she could listen… thank god, no offense but that was kind of uncomfortable, now if only anyone would do something about the psycho resting on my shoulder, that'd be great.

"You said that you needed a 'database' to search for a method to travel across dimensions right?"

She nodded.

"I'm not very good with all this computer stuff, but… isn't that like a library?"

"Correct, that would be a valid analogy."

"You also told me you can connect directly to someone's mind with just physical contact without any kind of risk right?"

She nodded again.

"…And you don't posses any kind of mana whatsoever?"

She shook her head.

"In that case I think I can find a 'database' for you; we just have to see if she also ended up in this place."

As she said these words everyone turned their attention towards Kanzaki san.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… Listen what I'm about to say it's a secret of my church so you must promise that you won't mention this to anyone else, I cannot guarantee your safety if you do…"

We all nodded.

"…You see… remember that girl that was with Kamijou Touma, the nun with the light blue hair… well she is…" she paused to clear her throat "…within that child's memory there are 103.000 grimoires that contain all of the world's most dangerous and powerful spells, rituals and several other secrets arts, I'm not sure if something like we're looking for exists, but if it does then it's definitely stored in there."

"So, now we just have to find Index san and see if the spell we're looking for is in her head?"

"Yes, I believe that is our best option."

"That sounds simple enough, but how do we even know if she here?"

Koizumi turned to me and answered using his serious expression "I think we can be sure that she is, remember, it's extremely rare that people get transported inside a closed space at the moment of its creation, the only precedent of something like this happening is that incident back when the brigade was first founded…"

He chuckled a little probably remembering about that.

"…However now even an outsider like Mugino san got inside, so I think that means that Suzumiya san just transported all the people that were near her at the time she created this closed space."

Speaking about that…

"That would mean Asahina san is around here somewhere as well."

"Yes, it's imperative that we found her before going back to our universe or else she would get trapped in here."

"Guess we better start looking for them…"

We divided in two groups, since Mugino completely refused to separate from me and Nagato was acting kind of weird when she was around, we decided that Koizumi, Nagato and Misaka san would be on the first one while Kanzaki san, Mugino and me would be on the second one.

"Ok, we'll meet here in 10 minutes, remember there are no cell phones here so please try to be on time, also be extremely careful not to get lost, there're no GPS either."

As we moved through the city I noticed there was a weird atmosphere in the air, Kanzaki san and Mugino were extremely careful of each other movements, they didn't talk but you could see there was a lot of hostility between the two.

"Can I ask you something?"

Surprisingly Mugino broke the ice and tried to talk to Kanzaki san… she looked at her making sure to be still on her guard

"What is it?"

"Back there you mentioned a lot of stuff about spells and magic, and looking at your profile it was hard for me to not think you're some kind of sorcerer or something along those lines… now I'm not a believer in any of that supernatural stuff, but still I must admit I'm kind of curious about it."

Kanzaki san chuckled a little. "It's not surprising, most of the people from Academy City only know all the science stuff it's been taught to them since birth so they grow ignorant of the ways of magic."

"Yeah whatever, so tell me, is there any way I can learn more about that 'magic' of yours so I could get stronger?"

"No, normally it would be possible, but since you went through Academy City esper development curriculum, trying to use magic would most likely tear your body apart or at the very least leave you severally scarred for life."

"I see, no use then, if it destroys my beauty it´s worthless to me." funny for some reason Mugino looked really disappointed, now I know I'm going to regret this but still…

"Why do you want to get stronger Shizuri, aren't you ranked number 4 already?"

"Hurray! Kyon you finally called me by my name without me having to correct you! I'm so happy we're that close already!" she grabbed my arm again and rubbed herself against it, a gesture that was now becoming common, but it was still effective.

"About the other stuff…" she sighed"…let's just say that number 4 it's not enough for me ok…"

She looked at me with a melancholic smile and a little blush on her face… that was cute, so much that I couldn't help but gulp and get a little embarrassed… ok remember deep down she's still the same psycho that tried to kill me this morning so please let's not do anything really stupid.

Kanzaki san cleared her throat "Excuse me, if you remember we still have to find Mikuru and Index."

She was right; unfortunately Mugino didn't seem to care about that… as I was gathering the courage to get her off my shoulder so we could continue I heard someone shouting in the distance.

"Please wait sister san!"

Immediately after a girl in a nun habit jumped on top of Mugino taking us both down, as we fell on the ground the nun began sniffing her and seemed to be searching for something in her coat.

"What are you doing you little…?"

Eventually the girl pulled out an apple from one of the pockets and jumped back kneeling on the floor.

"I'd be very grateful if you could donate this apple to help feeding the residents of the walking church."

"Of course n…" She stopped talking as soon as she noticed that she had fallen on top of me and because of that our faces were dangerously close, like 2 cm apart at most, so close that her body was pressed tightly against mine, I could feel her warm breath in my face and smell the shampoo she used to… ok stop that! anyway Mugino blushed so badly that she was redder than the apple on the nun's hand, I swear steam was coming out of her ears, she quickly tried to hide her face and moved away from me. "…yeah sure keep it."

"Thanks" the nun ate the thing in like 3 bites at most… wait a minute a nun!

"Index san!"

She looked at me and seemed surprised "Ah! Kyon san… and that assassin lady too…"

"Kyon kun! Kaori!" right behind Index Asahina san was running towards us with a cat on her hands, she stopped near Kanzaki san panting a little.

"Mikuru, Index you're both safe." Kanzaki san breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I woke up near her and ever since then we've been searching this place for more people."

"I see, Listen, there is a lot stuff we have to explain to you, but we better return to the meeting place first, we have to met with the others and time is almost up…"

We quickly moved towards the place where the fire hydrant was, and found that the other group had already returned.

"You're late Kyon… Misaka says annoyed."

What the…? …forget it; judging by the way Koizumi is chuckling in the background I already have a pretty good idea of what's going on… anyway, after that completely unnecessary scene we introduced Index to the rest of the group and proceeded to explain all the details of Nagato's plan (and a few other things about Haruhi and the like) to the two that just arrived.

"No! That's a bad idea, just the knowledge of one of the grimoires in my head could kill someone! you're just endangering your life by doing something like that!"

Index was completely against the plan and even seemed ready to escape if she had to, Kanzaki san tried to convince her…

"Index please, Nagato san has no mana of her own, she should be immune to their effects just like you."

"I said no! I'll search for it if… hey what are you doing!"

Nagato got close to Index and hugged her to prevent her from escaping.

"There is no time."

"Wait! Stop it! Let me go!"

As Index was crying for help Nagato's face got closer to her until they touched… their foreheads I mean.

"SELECT magic_spell

FROM index_librorum_prohibitorum

WHERE effect = 'dimensional_transport'

ORDER_BY power_efficiency"

As she was doing whatever the heck she's doing, I noticed that thin red circles appeared on Index san's eyes and she spoke with a weird robotic voice, it was like she was possessed by something.

"Warning, unauthorized query detected, in order to protect the 103.000 grimoires annihilation of the intruder must be set to first priority… Anti intruder local weapon 'Holy Land of Saint George' activated."

Kanzaki san tried to get close to them however the area around them changed; it was as if the space was being torn apart. "Nagato san, get away from her now! Index is not herself Johann's Pen mode was activated!"

Suddenly two weird circles appeared in the little gap between them, and in just a second Nagato was blown away by a huge ray of light that came out of Index san's mouth.

"Nagato!"

I watched in horror how the beam threw her several meters in the air hitting her against a building, pushing her through it farther away into another one.

"Salvare000!"

Kanzaki san chanted something and used the wires from her sword to ensnare Index san and move her away so her mouth would point at the sky, eventually the beam dissolved and some weird light made feathers fell toward us.

"Everybody run! Under no circumstance let one of those feathers touch you! You could die if they do!"

We did as we were told while Kanzaki san moved as fast as she could to get the now unconscious Index out the way; she carried her on her back and rushed towards the nearest building.

When all the feathers had banished we all went to where Kanzaki san hid, she was hugging Index with a warm soft smile on her face…

"Not this time… never again…"

After saying those words she opened her eyes, acknowledged our presence and immediately lowered her head in shame.

"Everyone, I'm sorry I didn't think that the security mode the church implanted on Index's brain would activate… now because of my carelessness Nagato san is…"

"I'm fine."

Ah! We turned around and found Nagato completely unharmed, I mean her clothes were a little worn out but she seemed perfectly ok.

"Nagato san you're safe…" Kanzaki san placed Index gently on the floor and stood up as if trying to hug her, however before she could do that Nagato interrupted her.

"I managed to secure the spell that showed the highest affinity with our situation; however I'm unable to execute it myself… I need your help."

Kanzaki san smiled at her "Ok, please tell me all the details, magic is complicated and a mistake could be fatal."

Then both girls together with Misaka san began working on the spell, I'm not sure of the details since they chased the rest of us out of the place they were going to use… thanks to that Koizumi, Asahina san, Mugino and me were assigned the extremely important task of… taking care of Index san until she wakes up, hurray!

"Kyon, can I ask you something?"

As we were doing our incredibly difficult mission, Mugino called out to me.

"What is it?"

"I was wondering about that friend of yours… I mean that beam that hit her makes my atom breaker look like a joke, yet she is completely fine; I was already suspicious since her profile was really vague and only said she was a 'rare kind' or something along those lines and that we should be extremely cautious with her… so I was wondering if you knew what she is?"

"Well… Nagato is a humanoid interface created by the Integrated Data Sentient Entity to keep an eye on Haruhi as a way to find the key of evolution."

She tilted her head sideways with a confused expression "What?"

"She's an alien."

"Ah… I see… that makes sense… somehow… you know please don´t take this badly but you are surrounded by a lot of weird people."

Like you for an example…

Mugino chuckled "But I guess I´m not one to talk…" She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes as if trying to sleep resulting in a really cute scene… ok this is not the first time she does this, now I just have to keep my cool and don't let it get to me, so let's just relax and ignore her… relax and ignore her… crap is not working!

"Kyon kun…"

I turned around and noticed Asahina san was all teary looking at me with those puppy eyes I adore so much.

"Asahina san this is not…"

But I as was trying to explain myself I felt the most nefarious killer aura ever coming from my shoulder, I could barely breathe as if I was drowning on horrible miasma that surrounded me, not even possessed Index could compare to this, it was like the gates of hell itself were opening right beside me.

"I'll… explain later…"

Ok, I'm a coward… Asahina san looked at Mugino directly and then made a really strong expression as she nodded; it seemed she understood my predicament… thank god.

"Sure… as you wish, I'll be waiting for you!"

As she moved away the area around me went back to normal and I felt Mugino chuckling and then changing her position so her arms were around my neck, leaving her face really close to my ear so I could hear her breathing… and to make matters even worse for me, there were two really soft things pressing against my arm.

After a few minutes of enjoyable torture, Misaka san came to tell us that the spell was finally ready; all that was left was waiting for Index to wake up…

_'Growl'_ "I'm hungry…"

That was fast… anyway we moved back towards the area and saw that they have carved a weird circle that looked like something out of that alchemist manga that ended recently.

"A transportation circle, these were used by several ancient cultures in order to move troops, supplies and several other items around the world, I guess you can use them to travel across dimensions too…" Index san inspected the circle on the floor "…this one is perfectly well done; there is a 0% discrepancy from the original formula."

"Wow Index san you sure know a lot about this stuff."

Index placed her hands on her waist and made a proud expression "Of course Kyon san, I have the perfect memory ability, so comparing this to the one in my head is a piece of cake."

I've to admit that's pretty impressive but… "Wait a minute, if you can do that, then doesn't that means we could have just you know… ask if you knew a spell that could help us."

She pouted and got angry "That's what I was trying to tell you before that girl forced her way into mind."

I noticed Kanzaki san sweat dropped and then cleared her throat to try and change the subject "Anyway what's done it's done, let's just focus on activating this thing, please stand in the middle of the circle and I'll do the rest…"

We did as she said and then she moved towards an inner circle within the one we were in, she began singing a weird song, I couldn't recognize the language and I don't think is any modern one… after little more than a minute had passed the lines of the circle began glowing, pretty dimly at first, but they got stronger as time passed, so bright that eventually I was unable to see anything and when I came to, we were in the same place that we had been attacked by Mugino.

"We are back…"

Right in the same spot where we left them was Touma touching Haruhi's arm, however they didn't move or anything, as if time had stopped and not just for the two of them, everything was like that…

"Ok, so all we have to is get Touma's hand off Haruhi."

I tried to move towards them…

"Wait Kyon kun."

However I was unable to as Koizumi stood in front of me "What is it?"

"First we should take the positions we were in before the incident or else they'll notice something has changed."

Ok that sounds easy now where was I… crap I can't remember it… oh well at least even I know how to solve this.

"Index san you told us you have a perfect memory ability, that means you remember everything with photographic precision right?"

"Yes that's right."

"Mind telling me where I was standing…"

"Sure."

After a little time, she got us back into the exact positions we were before this whole mess happened, luckily she was on the back of the group so she had a full view of everyone else, since I was the one closer to Haruhi and Touma, it was my job to stop the contact.

"Ok, ready everyone?"

I noticed everyone nodded and with a swift movement removed Touma's hand out of Haruhi's arm; it was pretty easy since he was only trying to get her out of the way and not grabbing her or anything…

Slowly I noticed how time began to flow again and that's when it hit me, we had forgotten something really important… just how are we going to explain all what happened to Haruhi?


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

After a while, time began flowing at full speed and despite the fact that Haruhi was not being touched anymore it seemed the momentum of Touma's push still affected her somehow, as she moved slightly to the side, he on the other hand continued his movement but with the new direction he got when I pulled him and fell right behind the girl he was trying to protect; while this happened the few light beams that hadn't hit the floor already did so barely even blowing the dust on it… wait a minute, that's it? It doesn't even look burned… although now that I think about it, if Mugino was trying to get Touma and Haruhi to touch each other then it kind of makes sense to shoot blanks, wouldn't want to kill your targets by accident… you know despite the whole psycho thing I must admit she really thought this thing through.

Anyway, I noticed how Haruhi looked around, stared at the floor while we waited for her reaction completely paralyzed and then something I'll never be able to understand happened… first she started chuckling, then she laughed, quietly at first but it soon became as loud as it could be…

"Ok guys..." _'Chuckle' _"…cut it out…" _'hehehe' _"…I understand what you're trying to do, but that's enough already…"

We looked at her as if she was crazy; I mean seriously what's wrong with her… the only one that seemed to caught up with what was going on was Koizumi, he quickly changed his expression back to his regular smile.

"I guess we couldn't fool you this time either, Suzumiya san…"

"Of course not, I had this whole thing figured out since the beginning, everything was just too weird _'Chuckle' _well I'll admit I had a few doubts at first but I realized there was no way this was true when she said the reason she was after us… I mean come on, doing all this just to get me and Touma kun to touch each other… who thought that was a good idea for a plot? it's ridiculous!"

Wait a minute… did she really think this whole thing was a joke? Oh well, I guess that explains why she was so carefree about it… She started to laugh so hard that she had to hold her stomach with her hands, then after a few moments she calmed herself before continuing.

"Seriously guys, why did you try to trick me like this?"

Koizumi quickly got a little closer to her "Well… we all noticed you were a little down, so we decided to make this little play to cheer you up and since we already did the mystery act back on the island, we thought about trying something a little more action oriented this time."

"I see…" She smiled "…I guess it's true that I was a little depressed for some reason since Friday and this really managed to cheer me up, thank you guys you're the best…" She put her index finger in her lips with a serious face"…but how did you prepared this whole thing so fast, I mean you only had a couple of days at most and the effects were fantastic, I don't know how you guys did them, but the light attacks and Yuki's wings looked really convincing, I was really close to believing this just for that, but when Kaori neesan did her attack, I could see the strings…"

She started laughing again and Kanzaki san sweat dropped a little.

"… and then I saw there was no damage on the floor so I deduced that the explosions must have been pyrotechnics and the beams some kind of holograms."

"Of course they look realistic, I contacted some people I know in showbiz and since they owed me a few favors we managed to convince them to lend us this set, luckily they had just finished shooting a movie in this facility so all the equipments were still in place and they even had some leftover pyrotechnics already set up that we could use complete with permission from the city hall to destroy part of the building as it's going to be demolish soon anyway."

"Wow, you're right that is pretty lucky… I still can't believe you guys when through all that trouble just for me, and you even got Index chan and Touma kun to participate, how did you even convince them?"

As Haruhi spoke, Touma stood up, his face showing that he had no idea of what was going on, a perfectly natural reaction to this situation I guess.

"Could anyone please tell me…?"

Misaka san quickly got close to Touma and interrupted him, whispering something to his ear without Haruhi noticing, I couldn't hear what it was but she probably told him to play along.

"They're friends of mine, so I contacted them and they agreed to cooperate with us… Misaka says convincingly."

"I see I wasn't aware that you guys knew each other… and what about her, who is she?"

She pointed at Mugino.

"I'm one of Kyon's acquaintances; he told me about this plan and asked me if I could help him with it and since I'm trying to become an actress I figured out it'd make good practice… Nice to meet you Suzumiya san, I used my real name when I introduced myself before, so you can call me Mugino if you wish."

"Ok, nice to meet you too Mugino san…" She turned back at me, and when she did Mugino blinked and made a sign to make clear this was going to cost me "…I'm surprised Kyon, I didn't think you would know such a talented actress, I mean don't get me wrong, everyone's performance was great and I must congratulate you all for it, but Mugino san psycho murder act stole the show, it was superb, she's the best actress I've ever seen in that role, it was so natural."

She turned towards Mugino and clapped a little, who on her part just smiled and moved her hand through her hair to hide the fact that she was annoyed, but it was obvious as you could see a few veins popping on her forehead…

"Thanks …"

"No seriously, I really believed you were a merciless crazy killer until the last second, I even feel a little weird talking to you now, your acting was just that good."

Make that a lot of veins popping on her forehead.

"Anyway guys, what happens now?"

Koizumi took a few second to think before answering "Well… to be honest… we wanted to have a party after the show, but unfortunately we didn't have time to prepare it… so I guess we can do whatever you want Suzumiya san."

Haruhi placed her index finger in her lower lips for a while before hitting the palm of her hand with her fist "I know, it's already past noon and since we're together why don't we all go get something to eat? Kyon's paying of course."

"Ok, whatever" I sighed, to be honest I expected this ever since she got the idea to meet today so I had already borrowed some money from my parents to prepare my wallet for… Wait…

"Hey Haruhi… are Touma and Index san coming with us?"

"Sure, why not? As long as they want to…"

"Of course! it would be rude for us to reject such a kind offer for a meal, right Touma?" Index san's eyes were beaming with excitement.

Touma looked at me with extremely condescending eyes before nodding.

"Yay, food!" Index san was literally jumping for joy… I'm so screwed.

"So now that's taken care of let's go!" Haruhi tried to lead the way but stopped as if she forgot something important "eh guys, how we get down? The first staircase door was stuck and you people blew up that one."

"We can use the staircase me and Kaori used to come here, it leads to the back of the building so we're going to have to cross the factory to get outside though."

"Sure no problem, lead the way Mikuru chan!"

We made our way through the stairs and I could see there was a really tense atmosphere in the air, we were all trying our best so Haruhi wouldn't notice, but it was pretty obvious from the formation we had adopted that something wasn't right… Haruhi was with Asahina san and Nagato in front of the group, Touma was a little behind them with me, Koizumi and Misaka san between them to prevent accidents from happening, Kansaki san and Index san were beside Touma , the former taking advantage of her position so she could keep an eye on Mugino, who had taken the opportunity to get by my side and _'Glare'_ me into holding hands with her… luckily it didn't take too long to go down the stairs and get out of the building complex.

"I don't get it, why was the factory so worn out; it was like a battle just took place in there."

Haruhi was understandably confused; Koizumi answered her using his usual smile.

"I believe that's where they filmed the movie, if I remember correctly they were going to use the office building but decided to film in the factory instead at the last minute, thanks to that we could use the equipment they left behind."

"I see, I guess that explains all the white tape and the explosion marks, but… why were all those dolls lying around?"

Yeah that did bother me, there were a lot of stuffed toys scattered throughout the whole place.

"I'm guessing it's because someone forgot to clean after herself again." For some reason Mugino looked angry.

"Eh what do you mean Mugi chan?"

And the veins on her forehead reappeared,

"Nothing in particular… well Suzumiya san, I'm really happy that you enjoyed my… 'Performance' …and I would love to accompany you in your meal but I must take my leave now, my friends are waiting for me."

"Sure, it was a pleasure Mugi chan I wish you success in your career, hope we can see each other again soon."

Mugino exhaled all the air in her lungs to calm herself… although that didn't seem to be working.

"Sure, I'll be looking forward to it… bye Kyon." She turned around and walked away.

**ITEM:**

"Mugi chan she says… what am I some kind of moeblob now? My eyebrows are perfect damn it!"

Mugino went through the street as fast as she could, still pissed about Haruhi's words.

"Seriously, that noisy girl surely is annoying…" she sighed "…oh well at least this mission's done and I managed to find someone really interesting."

She chuckled and blushed a little before reaching the meeting spot, once there she used her ability to create a little flash of light, after a few seconds the rest of the members of ITEM revealed themselves, the girl with the (burned) hood was the first to speak.

"So how was it? Did you manage to make them touch?"

Mugino moved her hand through her hair in a confident manner.

"Of course, mission accomplished as usual, it sure it's easy to succeed when your partners don't leave their stuff lying around where you're working, never mind that they still forgot to pick up their equipment."

The girl with the beret quickly got closer to her trying to make a cute expression "Come on Mugino, are you still mad about that? I've already taken my punishment plus I got us this easy high paying mission as an apology… I mean sure we might have been defeated a little faster than expected and I also might have forgotten a doll or two, but in the end everything went according to the plan."

Mugino sighed and pushed the girl's beret down so it would block her vision, but not enough so it would fall off.

"According to the plan…" she chuckled "…I guess you could say that."

She decided to keep the events in the closed space to herself, not only because a few embarrassing things happened on it (seriously to think she actually cried for help), but also because she might spill the beans about her new object of obsession and she wanted that to be a secret… for now at least.

The girl fixed her beret before looking back at her "See and you said this mission was fishy, but in the end everything was fine and now we get a huge reward for something so trivial."

"Sure, I suppose I must congratulate you Frenda… but still I don't think I could call this mission 'trivial', we were really outclassed this time, if it wasn't for my brilliant battle strategy there was no way we could have succeeded and even with that, luck played a huge role; those people are really something..."

All the other girls looked at Mugino in amazement, it was really weird for her to acknowledge that an enemy was stronger than her, let alone praise them… especially when they had won.

"Are you ok Mugino? I mean are you sure you weren't hurt somewhere or something?"

"Of course not… how about you girls?"

"We got a little electric shock, but no serious injuries from it thankfully."

"Well my neck is a little stiff, but I'm ok…"

"Ok, remember to be careful with your bodies… anyway let's go get something to eat and then head back to the hotel shall we?"

"Eh… I tought you said you wanted to get out of this place A.S.A.P. we even have tickets for the train this afternoon."

"Oh yeah…about that… you girls can go back if you want, but I need to stay here a little longer, there is a little business I have to take care of…"

All the girls were completely surprised, Mugino had been literally complaining nonstop about this town and how it lacked the most basic commodities (like huge malls, department stores and cleaning robots, how can people live without those?) and now she wanted to stay.

"You have some business… what could it possibly be?"

"Let's just say that I have to return something I borrowed…"

She chuckled and the girl with the (burned) hood sweat dropped a little "Ok… after spending the last week preparing for the mission I guess we deserve a few extra vacation days… how about doing some tourism, we could even try to find a nearby hot spring to relax."

Mugino smiled "Sounds perfect."

The black haired girl just nodded.

"Yay, hot springs!" The girl with the beret was almost jumping for joy.

"Ok, now that's decided let's go Frenda, Kinuhata, Takitsubo."

All the ITEM girls nodded and then they finally retreated, their mission was finished so now it was time to enjoy a few days off.

"By the way Mugino, what's that something you have to return?"

"Frenda…" she chuckled a little as she moved her hand inside one of her pockets, caressing the precious object she managed to 'borrow' "…that's a secret…"

"Hey, no fair!"

**Back to the SOS Brigade and the Kamijou clout: **

Right after Mugino made her exit, Haruhi turned towards me with a smile on her face.

"I like her, Kyon you should ask her to hang out with us sometime…"

"Yeah, sure…" Not, I finally managed to get rid of her and hopefully I won't have to see her ever again… Ok, I admit I'll miss the hugs , the rubbing and her cute smile… but I'll manage thank you… still I don't think this is the last I've seen of her, she retreated far too easily and she doesn't strike me as someone to give up just like that. "…anyway, where do you want to eat?"

"Hmmm... Let's just go to the usual place."

"Sure"

As we were going towards the restaurant Haruhi had quickly gone ahead with Index san and Asahina san, Nagato was with them, making sure that Index san didn't say anything inappropriate and keeping herself out of Touma's hand reach, the rest of us were trailing behind a few meters or so.

"So are you guys planning to explain me what's going on? Why do you get so defensive when I get close to Suzumiya san? How come that girl attacked us and you let her go as if nothing happened? And why are Kanzaki and Misaka Imouto with you people?"

And finally Touma had the chance to ask the questions that we were all expecting, Kanzaki san was the one that answered him.

"About that, it's a pretty long story and unfortunately we don't have time for it now, for the time being please be extremely careful not to touch Haruhi san or Nagato san with your right hand, I promise we'll explain everything to you when she's gone."

Funny, she talked to him with a similar tone to the one she used when she asked me about her photos but a tad sweeter and with a little blush on her face.

"Seriously, just what have I gotten myself into this time… such misfortune."

"Don't worry about this too much, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this situation and everything will be made clear once you hear it… Misaka says while trying to calm Misaka's savior."

He looked at her and then back and Kanzaki san before nodding.

"Ok, I'll take your word for it…"

Well that solves that problem for now… but… "Savior?" What could that mean?

"That's another long story… let's just says that I helped the sisters with a problem they had and now they think of me as that." Touma noticed my question and answered while he scratched the back of his head.

"That's not all of it… Misaka says mildly annoyed, it's thanks to your actions that Misaka is able to be here today; so please don't downplay them… Misaka says scolding."

Touma sweat dropped a little "Ok… sorry, I won't Misaka…" he took a quick glance at her neck"…now that I think about it; I don't think we have met before."

"That's correct, this is the first time this Misaka is able to interact with you directly… Misaka says happy, I'm Misaka serial number 11111; however for the sake of Misaka's current mission please use the name 'Misaka Ichigo' when referring to me, nice to meet you… Misaka introduces herself."

"11111… Ichigo… "Touma hit the palm of his hand with her fist "ah! I get it… that's pretty clever."

"Thank you… Misaka says overjoyed with your praises."

"Ok, Ichigo san nice to meet you too; I've met a few of your sisters before, so I kind of feel like I know you already; please don't be a stranger."

"Ok… Misaka says gladly …then just like 10032…"

Misaka san hesitantly moved to grab Touma's arm.

"I've found you!"

But she stopped when she heard a voice not too different from her own coming from behind; we turned around to see who it was…

"Biri Biri, what are you doing here?"

Misaka Mikoto, the girl responsible for the blackout last week, she seemed a little pissed and judging by her stare, that anger was directed at Touma.

"What am I doing here? I told you I was coming to visit you every week didn't I…"

Actually if I remember correctly she said _'I might also come to visit you every now and then…'_ but honestly who am I to correct her.

"…plus you didn't write me a mail like you promised!"

Touma sweat dropped a little "That's because you weren't able to give me your address last time, remember…"

She sweat dropped as well and got a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I kind of forgot about that, but still…"

"Ah! Mikoto chan!"

Haruhi called her attention; Mikoto san snapped out of her angry state and looked around finally acknowledging our presence.

"Haruhi san, Kyon san… What are you people doing here?"

Haruhi looked at her confused "What are you talking about? we live here… a better question would be what are you doing here? Saten chan said you were all coming back on summer break."

I'm guessing Haruhi couldn't hear her previous outburst properly, or else she wouldn't be asking that… Anyway, Mikoto san blushed and stuttered a little; completely caught off guard with that question.

"Well… yeah… about that…"

"Oh I get it; you were worried about your little sister living alone in this place so you came to pay her visit."

Mikoto san looked at her confused "…little sister?" Before she noticed that a person that looked exactly like her was standing right beside Touma. "Yeah… of course… that's the reason…"

"Well, Ichigo chan is now officially a part of the SOS Brigade, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Ichigo…?" She looked at her sister with a weird expression.

"Hello Oneesama… Misaka says a regular greeting."

"Yeah, hello… Ichigo… chan."

Misaka… eh… Ichigo san nodded with an expression that almost seemed to be expressing glee.

"By the way Mikoto chan, where are Saten chan and the rest of your group? Aren't they with you?"

"Eh… no, I had to sneak… I mean travel by myself today."

"Oh… I see…" Haruhi sighed in disappointment, I guess she wants to see her friend again "…well since you're here, why don't you join us? We were going to get something to eat just now, our threat of course."

Hurray, more mouths to pay for… not like it matters anymore.

"Sure… now that you mentioned, I'm kind of hungry"

"Ok then let's go."

"Is short hair coming with us?"

Index san appeared from behind Touma, Mikoto san looked at her with a little curiosity.

"Sister san, I didn't know you were in this town too."

"Of course! I'm Touma's partner so it's obvious I'll be with him wherever he goes."

A couple of veins popped out of Mikoto san forehead while Touma sweat dropped.

"So you're living here…"

"Yeah!"

Mikoto san attitude changed, she looked at Touma with an angry face and spoke with annoyance in her voice.

"Hey you!"

Touma stood straight like a soldier. "Yes ma'am?"

"How come she gets to know everything about you moving out of the city, but I have to find out through one of your friends!"

"Well… you see… about that…" Touma was sweating like crazy and Mikoto san seemed really pissed… I hope she's not thinking of doing something stupid.

"Not to mention, she actually lives in this town with you!"

"Oneesama, please calm down... Misaka says interrupting" Ichigo san moved in front of her sister, who on her part turned her attention to her still pissed.

"And something I don't get about you 'Ichigo chan', how come you're in Haruhi san's club? You are not even in high school yet."

"But I am in high school Oneesama… together with Kamijou Touma, Misaka says bragging"

Was that last part really necessary?

"WHAT!" Mikoto san snapped, she was looking real pissed and I could already see sparks…

"Could you people quiet down, you're making a scene!" Kanzaki san interrupted them with her super serious tone; even Mikoto san seemed surprised and pushed back by her aura.

"Yeah… sorry, I kind of lost my temper back there…" she looked like a child that had just been scolded.

"Ok, please be more careful from now on… well then we better get moving Haruhi san, Mikuru." Kanzaki grabbed the two she just mentioned and began walking towards the restaurant again, once she was out of earshot Mikoto san asked something quietly to her sister.

"Wow, that was scary, who is she?"

"Her name is Kanzaki Kaori; she's another member of the brigade… Misaka answers."

"Oh I see… I didn't expect someone so mature looking to be in high… Wait a minute, does that means she goes to school with you two!"

"Yes… Misaka affirms."

She looked at Touma with a horrible glare… "YOU!"

"Birir Biri, calm down… please let me…" Touma took a couple of steps back

"Let's go, we'll leave you behind if you don't move!" Kanzaki san interrupted again, this time however Mikoto san seemed to be expecting that and with a swift movement looked at her with a smile.

"Ok, we're going." She glared back at Touma again before turning around with a 'hmpf' and walking away… he just sighed and "Such misfortune…" before he followed her.

Anyway, I moved to the front of the group to escape from the horrible atmosphere in the back and joined Haruhi, Asahina san and Kanzaki san.

"Man. I can't believe the way Mikoto chan acted; it goes completely against everything I thought about her."

"I guess looks can be pretty deceiving Suzumiya san."

"See Mikuru chan, it's for stuff like that why I say love is a mental illness."

Asahina san sweat dropped "Yeah… still I'm surprised Touma kun seems to be pretty popular, don't you think Kaori?"

Kanzaki san just looked away annoyed "None of my business!"

**Several hours later:**

"…Then Mugi chan fired several beams through a weird card aimed at me, Touma kun tried to get me out of the way, but…"

Haruhi was telling the story of our earlier 'play' to Mikoto san, most of us had already finished our meal… with one notable exception.

"Seconds!"

What! Again? This is like her 1000th plate already, how the heck can somebody eat so much and stay so thin… oh man I'm going to be so broke after this.

"...So after that I just couldn't hold back anymore and laughed like crazy."

Haruhi finished her story with a huge smile on her face… good to see someone actually enjoyed it.

"Oh… I see… I can't believe they staged something so complicated just for you."

"It's not the first time either, there was this one time where Koizumi kun's distant relative invited us to a villa on a remote island and the whole thing was just a mystery game he had prepared."

Mikoto san seemed genuinely surprised but at the same time a little suspicious.

"Wow, they really go the extra mile… by the way Haruhi san, there is something that's bothering me."

"What could it be?"

"Who is this 'Mugi chan' person you keep mentioning? Is she another member of your club?"

"No, she's an actress that Kyon convinced to participate… I believe she said her name was Mugino Shizuri."

Mikoto san eyes opened as wide as they could "What? Mugino?"

"You know her Mikoto chan?"

She kept quiet for a second before answering "I've… met her somewhere before…"

"Oh, I see."

"Ah I'm full!"

Index san stretched her arms and fell back on the chair, finally… all that's left now is paying the… oh god…

"Ok, now that Index chan finished eating, it's time to decide what are we going to… crap it's that late already!"

Yeah, thanks to a certain nun our lunch time got extended 'just a little bit'.

"Oh well, I guess there's no time to do something else…"

"Thank god, I'm exhausted."

"Come on Kyon, I can't believe you're tired after so little exercise; that's it! starting tomorrow I'm putting you through special training."

Great now I'm poor and I'll have to go through hell every day, that'll teach me to open my big mouth… such misfortune.

"Anyway, as I was saying I think it's better if we go home for today; Mikoto chan, do you want us to accompany you to the station?"

"No, I've a few things I need to discuss with my 'little sister' but thanks for the offer Haruhi san."

Mikoto san bowed a little.

"Ok, then I'll be going now; bye bye everyone."

We said our goodbyes to Haruhi and little after that she was gone.

Once she was out of sight Mikoto san moved near Touma, grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him violently. "Ok, so can you explain me what's going on?"

"…Biri…Biri…wait…"

"...Mugino Shizuri, that's the name of the 4th strongest level 5! And I don't think that psycho is available for parties!"

She stopped shaking him and looked at us with a suspicion.

"What about you guys, I doubt you could convince that woman to participate in a 'play'? Just what are you hiding from Haruhi san?"

"Misaka san, Touma kun doesn't know anything about what happened today, but if you let me I'd be willing to explain everything, however both of you must promise me that you will keep everything I'm going to tell you secret."

Koizumi aswered her and she quickly let go of Touma and turned her attention towards him with her arms crossed.

"Ok, I promise."

Touma for his part took a second to recover himself before answering.

"Me too, I just want to know what happened."

Koizumi sighed and talked to them using his regular butt kissing smile.

"I would also like to change locations, after a recent incident I'd rather not discuss these matters in public…"

They nodded and so we moved to the karaoke bar where we talked to that Tsuchimikado guy last week, just like that time Koizumi whispered something to the attendant and she quickly guided us to the same cabin we used back then, I'm guessing there must something special about this place, anyway after he closed the door, he quickly took seat in front of Touma and Mikoto san.

"First before we get into what happened today I'd like to give you some background information… usually I'd rather keep this secret, but unfortunately that's not an option anymore, so please listen carefully what I have to say."

"Yeah, spare me the speech would you?" Mikoto san seemed a little upset.

"Ok, I'll go straight to the point, you see Suzumiya san it's not normal human being, rather she's an entity capable of manipulating the very fabric of reality, she can even create or destroy new universes like it's nothing."

"What? That makes no…"

"Please let me finish Mikoto san, you see the thing is she is not aware of her own powers so the only way they have to manifest themselves is through her subconscious; to make matters worse you have probably noticed how she's has a rather 'eccentric' personality."

"Well, yeah… it's kind of obvious, but…"

"Thanks to that, her powers are highly unstable and she could easily change this universe for another one if she ever gets bored or depressed enough; which is in a sense the reason this whole brigade exists."

"What does that means?"

"Suzumiya san has a certain fixation with supernatural beings; so much that she managed to gather several of them without realizing and to make things more interesting they can't reveal their identity to her, since that would cause her to accept their existence as a natural thing and therefore become boring…"

Both Misaka san and Touma had been following the explanation so far; however you could see that they were unconvinced.

"Wait a minute, if what you're saying is correct then you people are…"

"Correct, most of the members of the SOS brigade are indeed supernatural beings; for an example I'm an esper however from a different organization as you, so I'm only able to manifest my powers when certain conditions are met and I suppose both of you must be familiar with Ichigo san already."

After that little revelation, Misaka san remained skeptic…

"Oh come on who is going to believe that?"

"Wait a minute Biri Biri…"

However Touma seemed a little more convinced.

"...I can vouch for their group having several supernatural beings on it besides your sister, I'm not sure about Koizumi san, but I'm 100% positive that Kanzaki and Tenshi san are not normal humans."

And after his intervention so did her…

"Ok, Let's say I believe all that stuff about Haruhi san; what does that have anything with her being attacked by a level 5?"

Koizumi took a second to order his thoughts before continuing with his explanation.

"You see Misaka san, as you can imagine a being so mysterious and powerful like Suzumiya san is bound to call the attention of several organizations around the world, one of them being your hometown Academy City; you see the general director of said place has a really peculiar theory about her, that she's the ultimate esper capable of expanding her personal reality across the entire universe…"

Both looked really surprised and Misaka san even muttered something.

"Level 6…"

"…Of course that's just his speculation, depending on who you ask Suzumiya san might be a God, or the key to understanding evolution among several other things… Anyway, in order to find proof of his theory he devised a plan to negate Suzumiya san's power which if he was correct should cause the universe to return to the state it would be without her intervention."

Touma sweat dropped "I'm guessing…"

"Yes, Touma kun you're correct, the method he chose to achieve such a thing is your ability, that's probably the reason you were transferred to our school so suddenly, he also hired the underground organization ITEM lead by Mugino san to ensure the success of his plan; what you witnessed today was just their attempt to make his experiment a reality."

Touma swallowed a little. "Does that mean that we're still in danger?"

"No, because they actually succeeded on their mission, today during their attack you managed to negate Suzumiya san's powers and for a moment the entire existence of our universe was at risk."

"Wait a minute…" Mikoto san stood up annoyed"…how can you ask us to believe this stuff, look it's true he has some weird way to block my attacks, however your story is pushing it too far!"

"Yes, I'm aware that my explanations must sound awkward even by your standards, we can stop this anytime you want and you are free to decide whether to believe me or not; however regardless of your decision, under no circumstance you can break the promise you made today. "

"Ok…" Mikoto san seemed to calm down"…I've already listened this far might as well hear the whole thing."

"Very well, you see …" then Koizumi told them everything that happened during the time we were in the closed space… well he did skip the part about Mugino crying for help; thank god, for some reason I've the feeling that if a rumor started about that, her fixation for me wouldn't be enough to keep my head in its place. "…and once we stopped your influence over Suzumiya san, everything went back to normal."

Both Touma and Mikoto san remained motionless staring at Koizumi in disbelief, it was only a little later that Touma spoke while he scratched the back of his head.

"Well…that does sound a little unbelievable."

Koizumi chuckled a little "Yes, I'm aware of that, however it's what happened today; if you wish you may ask Index san or anyone else to confirm my story."

Touma looked at Index san who was seated right beside him…

"Touma, what Smiley kun said is the truth, I was there and that's what happened."

Smiley kun… _'Chuckle' _brilliant! anyway, he looked at Ichigo san and Kanzaki san and they both gave him a reassuring nod.

"…I guess that does explain why I fell behind Suzumiya san despite being sure I moved correctly, I thought that was really weird."

"Yes, that was the exact moment when time stopped; luckily it seems she didn't notice any discrepancies."

Touma took a second to think before answering.

"Ok then… I believe you guys… "

Mikoto san looked at him annoyed but didn't interrupt him.

"…Just tell me one thing, why are you telling us all this?"

"Well, we had been debating among ourselves whether or not it was a good idea to inform you about this situation and after what happened today I believe it's the best way to prevent accidents from happening ever again."

"I see… that does make sense… ok you can count on me, I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I'll think of a way to help you guys…" he turned towards Mikoto san "…How about you Biri Biri?"

She seemed upset but she took a good look at Touma's eyes and then sighed "Ok… whatever… I'm not entirely convinced but I guess I'll play along for now… however I must ask you the same question he did Koizumi san, why did you tell me all this? If what you said it's true then it makes sense for him to know but not me."

"Well Mikoto san, there were three reasons for that, first one being that just a few minutes ago you were really upset, demanding an explanation about Mugino san interaction with us and since you seem to know her better than we do, I figured out it would be best to tell the truth rather than take a gamble with a lie that might have made you even more suspicious about us."

"That makes sense, what about the second one…"

"The second one would be to entrust you the duty of keeping an eye at Suzumiya san, like I mentioned before we must keep her from knowing the truth about any supernatural phenomenon and since she seems to really value the friendship she made with Saten san, in the future we might need your help whenever she's alone with your group."

"Ok, it's forbidden for us to speak about anything regarding Academy City to outsiders anyway… what about the third reason."

Koizumi chuckled a little bit "Well the third reason would be for you to please control your temper; I was informed that last week you caused the city wide blackout in a fight with Touma kun and today you were almost sparking when you met him, so since you mentioned you were coming to visit him every week, I must ask you to please get a hold of yourself."

Mikoto san blushed badly and looked at her legs to hide her face "…Yeah… sorry about that…"

"Ok, that's about everything I needed to tell you, if you don't have any more questions then I believe we can end this meeting."

Touma and Mikoto san nodded.

"Perfect, now remember that under no circumstance you can repeat anything I said to you to anyone else, the universe as we know it may be at risk if you do."

"Yeah… Yeah, we heard it the first two million times you said it…" As she spoke Mikoto san's phone rang, she excused herself and picked it up with an expression that showed both annoyance and happiness at the same time…

"Hello…"

"ONEESAMA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"…Kuroko, could you please speak a little quieter, I'm with people right now…"

She moved herself away from us and while we couldn't hear the other side of the conversation this one remained perfectly audible.

"…Yeah, I know I told you I was going to be at the library but something came up and I had to… "

"…No, do you honestly believe that I would lie and travel all the way to…"

"…No, I'm not going to let you install a GPS on my phone…"

"…No, nobody has done any of those things to me…"

"…No, of course I'm still wearing my… hey! How do you which pair I'm using right now?"

"…What do you mean 'keeping inventory'? Just forget it, we'll talk about this when I get home, bye!"

Mikoto san hung up her phone in anger, sighed and turned to look at us with a blush on her face.

"…Eh… I've to go now… Bye everyone!"

She darted out of the room completely embarrassed… not that I can blame her… Anyway, the whole room remained silent and for a while you couldn't even hear a fly… it was several minutes later that Koizumi cleared his throat, breaking the weird atmosphere.

"As I was saying, Touma kun, I know I must sound like a broken record, but please be extremely careful not to touch Suzumiya san or Nagato san with your right hand from now on."

"Sure… and I'll keep my promise too don't worry."

"Well then, we better go now, it's late already and it's pointless to stay here any longer."

After that little chat we left the place and said our goodbyes to each other, as I was walking home I noticed that Touma and Index san took the same route as me.

"Do you guys live around here?"

"Yeah, we have an apartment nearby."

"Oh I see…" Now that I think about it, I was going back home when I found him last week.

"Hey Kyon san, may I ask you something?"

"Eh…sure what is it?"

"I was wondering, if all the members of your club are supernatural beings then… what are you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at his question.

"I'm the normal human that got involved in this mess and nobody knows why."

Touma chuckled as well when he heard my answer. "Yeah, I guess I kind of understand that feeling."

"It's not easy I tell you… by the way, can I ask you something too?"

"Sure."

"Well I was surprised by your reaction today, most people would be far more skeptic about the things you learned, heck I could barely believe it myself at first."

"That's nothing; I'm just used to weird stuff that I can barely understand happening around me."

"I see… I can definitely relate to that."

We laughed together and I noticed Touma stopped in an interception.

"Well Kyon san, we must go that way."

"Ok, see you tomorrow Touma, Index san."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye Bye Kyon san."

Both of them bowed and walked away… you know looking at them like this I can't help but feel that they are a weird yet strangely fitting couple… also I just noticed that they're a high school student and a nun considerably younger looking than him living together, isn't that kind of… meh whatever! Anyway, I rushed back home and when I arrived I was greeted by the sound of the house phone ringing; I picked it up and…

"Hello…"

"It's that you Kyon, it's me."

"Haruhi? What wrong? Why didn't you call me to my cell phone?"

"I tried but for some reason it couldn't connect, it says it's unavailable right now."

"I see, it must be out of battery or something, anyway how can I help you?"

"Well… you see… I had something to tell you today but Index chan interrupted me and then I kind of couldn't find the right moment."

That's weird, for some reason Haruhi sounded a little nervous.

"Ok, what is it?"

"I... want to tell you in person, can you meet me at the park that's near your house in 20 minutes?"

"Sure."

"Ok then, I'll see you there… bye."

**20 minutes later:**

"You're late Kyon."

I arrived at the park and found Haruhi waiting for me; however she didn't seem annoyed but rather a little anxious.

"Sorry…"

"It's ok…"

We remained silent for a while unable to say a word.

"Today was a lot of fun, thank you."

"Yeah, no problem… I was surprised when you said you had it figured out since the beginning."

She turned her sight away from me.

"Of course you guys can't fool me like that easily… plus there's no way I'd be so calm if someone was trying to murder one of us… like you said today, it's not fun if they try to kill you."

"Yeah…"

After another round of uncomfortable silence, we both tried to speak at the same time…

"Listen…" / "Hey…"

"Sorry, you go first…"

"No, you go first, you're the one that has something to say to me."

"Ok… Remember what you said on Friday, about all that weird stuff you did during the week because you wanted to be more responsible with your duties and all that…"

"Yeah…"

"…Well… like I said back then I misunderstood and thought you were jealous and… what I want to say is…"

She closed her eyes and it might be the lighting or something but it kind of looks like she's blushing…

"…From now on… only do stuff like that if you really mean it!"

She finished yelling and then took a second to grasp for air, then she placed her hands on her waist and got her face a little closer to mine, looking directly into my eyes "Understood?"

I chuckled and couldn't help but smile at her request…

"Sure."

I nodded and then we couldn't hold it anymore and laughed together...

* * *

**Omake**

**The other side of the coin:**

In Academy City, Shirai Kuroko arrived at the usual café to meet with two of her friends, Saten Ruiko and Kazari Uiharu; it was almost a tradition to gather every once in a while to talk, gossip and overall just hang out together… this time however there was a member of the group missing.

"Shirai san, why isn't Misaka san with you today?" Saten was curious about that.

"Oneesama said she was going to be in the city's library the entire day to study."

"I see, studying even on a Sunday, as expected of her."

Uiharu on the other hand looked at her friend surprised.

"That's weird, I had to patrol the library twice today and I didn't saw her anywhere…"

"You must have missed her, I mean for what reason would Oneesama lie and…" She stopped… there was a reason, the same reason they had to travel to that town last week… the barbarian!

"Eh… Shirai san, are you ok?" Both her friends stared at her worried, she remained immobile and for a while they were wondering whether or not to call 119, then in a fraction of a second she snapped out of it and grabbed her phone, speed dialing a number.

"ONEESAMA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"…Yeah sure… sorry I'll be quieter… Oneesama, where are you? I just talked to Uiharu and she told me you haven't been to the library all day… "

Uiharu sweat dropped "Actually I just said I didn't saw her when…" but Kuroko ignored her.

"Oneesana, you didn't lie to me so you could visit that… that… that barbarian all by yourself did you?"

"Oneesama, it's not like I don't trust you but… I'd just be more confident if you'd let me install that program like we talked about the other day."

"But Oneesama, I'm just worried about you … Every night I have horrible nightmares of that barbarian doing this and that, defiling your body and I'm afraid they could become real."

"Ok Oneesma, I trust you… seriously, just the thought of that guy taking off your shorts and looking at your special edition Gekota underwear is enough to make me sick."

Kuroko jumped and sweat dropped as she was just caught red handed "…Eh… I just noticed they were missing this morning when I was keeping inventory of your undergarments…"

She let go of the phone and sulked. "Oneesama got mad at me."

Both her friends' just sweat dropped and wondered whether or not it was a good time to go home already.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

**Wednesday: **

My classroom, the red light coming from the window indicating that it was already late; I couldn't remember why I was here, but…

"I've grown tired of this… of observing a static subject; That's why…"

The person in front of me, Asakura Ryoko a beautiful girl that seems so innocent and kind.

"…I'll kill you and see how Suzumiya Haruhi responds."

I dodged, she moved in an instant and tried to cut me with her knife, I took a few steps backwards and fell on the floor, panicking…

"Stop joking around, that's really dangerous, even as a joke you're taking it too far."

She looked at me with her eyes that showed no emotion…

"You think this is a joke…?"

And then she examined the knife on her hands…

"Not wanting to die, to be murdered… I don't understand those concepts you organic life forms have."

I stood up as fast as I could…

"I don't get it! Just put that thing down already!"

She just smiled with joy and kindness, as if I just said something funny.

"That's not possible… because… I truly want you to die."

She jumped at me again trying to stab me, once again I dodged by a hair and tried to run out of the room… but the door wasn't there.

"It's useless, this space is under my data jurisdiction… no one can leave or enter."

What? I don't understand a thing she's saying… if anyone does please come here and save me.

"Why don't you just give up… it's useless to fight back."

I tried to circle around her "Who are you?"

But she just remained motionless and suddenly several desk flew at me, I ran away from them until I found myself in the corner of the room; I could notice that the walls had been broken in several places; but on the other side wasn't the hallway but… some weird space that I'm not sure what it was… I panicked even more and threw a chair at her with all my strength.

"It's useless didn't I told you?"

The chair hit some sort of force field around her and disintegrated.

"Everything in this classroom moves according to my will."

Ok… just what is going on here… why does she want to kill me…? My mind was blank; all I could do was trying to think of an explanation… why is this happening to me?

"I should have just done this from the beginning."

As she said that my body wouldn't move, I don't know what she did but I was paralyzed… this is no fair, I call foul play.

"…If you die Suzumiya Haruhi has to make some sort of reaction… there's bound to be an explosion of data for me to observe… I can't wait… so please… just die."

She raised her knife in the air ready to make the final fatal blow; she jumped at me at an incredible speed, yet in the middle of her flight a giant ray of light hit her head on, blowing her away into the rubble.

"Could you back off **my **Kyon? He's mine you blue haired freak!"

I looked around and noticed someone was approaching me; she was a beautiful girl, with brownish hair and eyes that were the same color, wearing a pink one piece dress, together with black stockings and white boots… I've met this girl before… Mugino Shizuri.

She got closer to me, taking advantage that I couldn't move so she could hug me and rub her body all over mine, eventually I noticed her face was getting closer… so close that I could feel her breathing hitting against my lips, she stopped one centimeter short of my mouth and whispered.

"…You're mine…"

But before she could do anything else, she had to jump back to dodge the knife the Asakura was trying to stab her with, she shot a light beam in response which caused both girls to retreat a little while taking battle positions.

The first thing I could notice was that Asakura knife had failed to touch Mugino's skin, but it had been close enough to rip a part of her dress making the cleavage a 'little' larger, as it stretched from barely above her waist showing her cute bellybutton and carefully exposing the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra without letting any sensible parts at plain sight.

Asakura for her part was no undamaged either, her shirt was completely burned out, the only thing left intact being the top as both the sleeves and the lower hem of the shirt were gone, so I could not only see her navel but also a little of the underside of her breasts as she wasn't wearing a bra either.

But enough about their clothing failure as both girls just ignored it and walked to where I was while never losing sight of their enemy, once they were close enough they glared directly at each other eyes, carefully keeping a façade of kindness that couldn't quite hide their horrible murderous aura.

"Might I ask who are you and why are you calling him yours?"

Mugino smiled and moved her hand through her hair as she always does "Because he is mine… now if you excuse us could you please leave us alone, we have some matters to discuss and you're in the way."

Asakura gave her a smile of her own "What nonsense are you saying; I'm the only person in this world that's allowed to 'discuss matters' with him, so it's you the one who has to leave."

They stared at each other a little longer before breaking into the most hypocrital laugh I've ever heard, following that, their façades crumbled in an instant, revealing the psychotic personality behind it.

"Listen me you wench, I've been in this place for the longest time and I'm not going to let some newbie with a personality problem steal him away from me, this person is my prey and mine alone."

"Ha… newbie? I don't care what history you got with him, it's just that, history; he's my plaything now and the faster you go away the faster we can start 'playing', so go get your data exploded somewhere else you huge eyebrow monster."

"In your dreams! I'm sorry but I'm not going anywhere when it's obvious he wants to be with me!"

"You wish! He wants to be with me!"

They stared at each other once again before making a grunt and turned towards me.

"Hey you!" they yelled at the same time.

"Yes?" I answered weakly completely paralyzed by the presence of these girls, I don't think I'd be able to move right now even if I could.

"Could you please tell this melt downed girl that you'd rather be with me?"

"Come on, just tell the kid to shove her knife where the sun doesn't shine and go away."

_Wake up._

"Could I choose none?"

Both girls snapped, ready to kill me if I didn't comply "No! Just tell her I'm the one you want already!"

_Wake up you stupid Kyon._

I opened my eyes, sweating like crazy with a horrible attack of Tachycardia, it was so bad that I had to take a second to calm my breathing and finally acknowledged the presence of someone else in the room.

"Haruhi…"

She was standing right in front of my bed wearing her school uniform and an arm band that read "Super coach."

"Are you ok Kyon? You look like crap."

"I think I was having my recurring nightmare… but it was different this time, I think the cursed thing just got an upgrade."

"For better or for worse?"

"I'm… not sure… only thing I know is that I should go see a psychologist… wait a minute, what are you doing in my room? It's only 4:00 AM"

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' come on Kyon it's the third day we've done this, you should know it's time to begin your special training, so go get changed already!"

Haruhi looked at me with a sadistic smile and chuckled… You know putting things into perspective maybe that dream wasn't that bad…

**A few hours later:**

I fell on my desk completely exhausted; I couldn't move and even breathing was proving to be difficult.

"What's wrong Kyon san? You look like you slept inside a drying machine."

I moved my eyes toward the direction of the voice that just talked to me.

"Touma… I wish… trust me compared to Haruhi's special training, sleeping inside a drying machine is nothing… heck if you want I could do that while you train with her."

"Eh… no thanks, I'll pass…" I noticed he sweat dropped and took seat near me. "…but seriously man, what do you guys do on that training?"

"I'd rather not talk about it… anyway how is Index san?"

"She's fine, hungry as usual…"

"What about Mikoto san? Heard anything about her?"

"Well, she forgot to give me her mail again so I won't been able to write her this week either…" He sweat dropped again "…Man is she going to be pissed this Sunday… by the way, did you managed to find your phone?"

Ah yeah, my cell phone has been missing since last Sunday.

"Nope, I think I might have dropped it in the building the other day, but I haven't felt like going back there to look for it… guess I'm going to have to buy a new one, but I'm completely penniless right now."

Thanks to a certain nun that is…

"Yeah, sorry about that…"

"Guys, you won't believe what I just saw today!"

Taniguchi came into the classroom as he always did whenever he saw a girl that called his attention… wait a minute you don't think?

I stood up and grabbed him using the last of my strength "Taniguchi! Tell me! she wasn't a Yandere Ojousama this time was she?"

He looked at me confused "No… what's wrong with you man? Got a new fetish or something? Drop it, that's a really dangerous combination."

I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on my chair.

"No sorry, just forget I said anything… anyway, what did you saw?"

"Oh yeah, I just saw the cutest little girl back in the teachers' lounge… she was so little and moe, I wonder if she's the daughter of a teacher we know…?"

"Wow Taniguchi… I didn't know you were into 'that'?"

"I'm not! Why does everybody thinks that just because someone makes a remark about a child beauty, then it means that person is into 'that'?"

"Because it sounds creepy as hell…"

"Well, let me tell you…"

"Little and moe in the teachers' lounge… I wonder."

Me and Taniguchi were ready to start an argument but stopped once Touma made that remark.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you know that little girl?"

"Are you into 'that' too?"

He sweat dropped "No… enough about 'that already', let's just say that if my suspicions are correct you guys are in for a surprise."

"Kamijou chan!"

We turned around and found a little girl with pink hair and a pink dress holding an envelope and standing near the door… she must be the same kid Taniguchi was talking about, because the first words that came to my mind when I saw her were 'little' and 'moe'.

"Komoe sensei, what are you doing here?"

Yeah, kind of like that… wait, what?

She pouted "Kamijou chan. It's that the way you greet your cute teacher that came all the way here just to see you?"

"Sensei, did you really skip work today just to come here and see me?"

She pouted even more "Of course not; I'm not a skipper… For your information I was asked to come here on behalf of Academy City's board of directors…"

"What's a little girl doing here?"

Haruhi just arrived in the classroom; she had separated from me after the training to go to the bathroom.

"I'm not a little girl, I'm a teacher!" she looked at Haruhi annoyed and then back at Touma "What a rude girl! Don't tell me she's another one of your fans, Kamijou chan."

He just sweat dropped "Not at all…" and whispered "…thank god."

"Good; now as I was saying…"

"Ok… so let me get this straight; this person is a teacher of yours?" Haruhi made Touma the question we've all been wondering for a while.

"Yes, allow me to introduce her, she's Tsukuyomi Komoe Sensei one of my teachers back on Academy City… she may not look like it, but she's old enough to legally drink, smoke and drive a car."

We all remained silent… ok he just has got to be kidding.

The… eh… woman pouted again "Kamijou chan! That's not how you introduce someone! ...Wooah! what are you doing?"

Haruhi lifted the teacher in the air and looked at her with a huge smile on her face "Wow! Seriously? I can't believe it! First Index chan and now Komoe sensei; can you believe this Kyon? Two world class supernatural phenomenon in less than two weeks, we're on a roll lately."

If only you knew Haruhi… if only you knew.

"I'm not a phenomenon! Just Let go of me already!"

"Ok, ok… sorry…" Haruhi placed her back on the ground with her grin still intact.

She pouted again "What wrong with you people? I've never been so mistreated in my life." she crossed her arms and looked away annoyed.

Touma scratched the back of his head "Ah come on Komoe sensei… can you really blame them for being surprised? I was too when I first saw you… "

He whispered something to himself.

"…But come on please forgive them."

Komoe sensei took a peak at Touma.

"Ok Kamijou chan, sensei will forgive them this time because you're the one asking…"

Don't tell me she's another one of Touma's fans… I can't believe it! even pink haired teachers that look far too young for their age aren't safe from this guy… wait, why does that concept sounds more familiar that it should?

"By the way Kamijou chan, I just noticed, but what happened to your arm?"

Oh yeah, ever since that day Touma had been coming to school with his arm wrapped in bandages, you know just in case.

"Ah… this… I just burned myself a little in the kitchen, nothing serious."

"Well be careful, back in Academy City you practically lived in the hospital… it was so bad, Sensei thought you had a nurse fetish."

"You weren't the only one at that… anyway Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"That was what I was trying to tell you before I was interrupted…" She pouted annoyed, but quickly dropped it and cleared her throat "…like I was saying I was asked by the Academy City's board of directors to come here and give you this…"

She handed the envelope she was carrying to Touma.

"What is this?"

"Well you see Kamijou chan, it seems your transfer here was a mistake caused by a bug in the selection software; for some reason you got chosen despite the fact that you weren't even part of the exchange program in the first place… you're pretty unlucky."

He sweat dropped "Tell me something I don't know."

"Usually chances are that a mistake like this would go undetected, but you know, a few days after your departure, someone hacked the entire city's network to retrieve some data about the program, crashing a few servers in the process…"

He sweat dropped even more "Just what did you do Biri Biri?"

"…So the administrator had no choice but to check the correctitude of all the data within them and after more than a week of doing that he found the mistake; once the cat was out of the Schrödinger box, the board of directors decided the best thing to do would be to cancel your participation in the program all together and transfer you back to Academy City, so they sent me here to take care of all the formalities, that envelope has all the details about this case as well as some papers you need to sign."

"What?"

Touma was understandably surprised… and so were several of our classmates.

"Kamijou san is leaving?"

"No fair, I wanted Kamijou kun to stay with me!"

"Please don't go Touma kun!"

"Take me with you Touma, I'm yours!"

Ok, it's like the female members of our class are starting a rebellion.

"Well… Kamijou chan, Sensei has already told you everything you need to know, remember you're coming back to the city on Sunday, so pack all your things by then… bye!"

Komoe sensei ran away as fast as she could; not that I can blame her, the rumors of Touma's transfer had already spread and like ¼ of the girls in school were gathering around him.

"Crap, not this again!"

You know I take back what I said before… being extremely popular with the ladies can be pretty unlucky depending on the circumstances.

"Guys, I could use a little help here… guys? …Such misfortune!"

**Lunch break:**

Me, Koizumi and Touma were currently on the school's roof, eating our lunches while hiding from the members of Touma's fan club.

"Seriously, I didn't expect to have to move twice so suddenly."

"To be honest Touma kun, I'm not surprised."

"What do you mean Koizumi? You were expecting Touma to be transferred back?"

"Yeah, remember the whole point of Touma kun's presence in this school was just to create the opportunity for him to touch Suzumiya san."

"And according to you, I did that on Sunday."

"Correct, so there's no purpose for you to be in this school anymore and I'm guessing someone with a power like yours is a pretty valuable piece in that guy's plan, so it doesn't make sense to leave you here if you aren't needed."

Touma sweat dropped "…Piece…"

"Sorry to be blunt… But in the grand scheme of things we were all his pieces in the end."

"Can't say I disagree with that… all that humiliation I had to endure to prevent you and Haruhi from touching each other was useless."

"I know… I don't like it… but I guess you're right."

We all sighed together…

"By the way Touma kun, there's something I've meaning to ask for a while…"

"What is it?"

"You see, three years ago there was an incident like the one that happened on Sunday but in a much larger scale, most of the members of my organization believe that Suzumiya san created this universe back then."

"Wow that sounds bad…"

"Well if you think about it, it's not that bad if you like the way things are now."

That makes sense.

"But anyway that doesn't matter, the thing I wanted to ask you is… do you remember something about that date? Your right hand makes you immune to the effects of Suzumiya san powers, so I'm curious whether or not you can tell me anything about that incident?"

Touma stared at the sky with a face full of melancholy…

"Three years ago… it'd be nice to remember something about that…"

"What do you mean?"

He took a long breath before looking back at us with a sad smile.

"…I just can't remember my past very well… I'm sorry Koizumi san, but I don't think I can help you with that."

"I see… that's a shame."

We continued eating in silence for a while… man I can't stand this, it's like someone just died in here.

"So… what do you guys think will happen now?"

Koizumi sighed and looked at me "Who knows, I doubt that guy will leave Suzumiya san alone, but I'm completely clueless about what he might do."

"I see… I suppose all we can do is wait."

We all sighed together again…

**After school:**

We were currently in the club room, the news of Touma's transfer was already common knowledge in the whole school and while the older member of the brigade were almost unaffected by it, the new ones seemed to have a few troubles with it, Kanzaki san for an example had been meditating like she always does, but…

"Kaori, here's your tea."

…

"Kaori…?"

"Ah… sorry Mikuru… you were saying?"

"Here's your tea, I made it especially for you."

"Thanks…" She grabbed her cup and took a few sips before sighing.

"Kaori, what's wrong with you, you've been out of it the whole day."

"…It's nothing… sorry… I just… never mind."

There was an awkward silence between them… that's weird, ever since Sunday those two had been like best friends… heck even Haruhi was more lenient with Asahina san lately because of it (She still had to cosplay and Haruhi always insisted in dressing her whenever possible, but she was far less aggressive now.) So it's weird to see something like that.

The other two friends were similar; Ichigo san had been out of synchrony with Nagato for a while and if I'm not mistaken I can see her mouth arching downwards about a millimeter or so… overall there was a pretty weird atmosphere in the room and even Koizumi and me were affected by it…

"Aw man, I can't wait to put this into the website."

Haruhi for her part was not.

"What are you doing Haruhi?"

"Oh nothing, I was just updating the website to include the supernatural stuff we had found… seriously between the nun with the black hole on her tummy and the teacher that doesn't age, we're bound to get a few extra hits, if only I would've remembered to take pictures… this stuff is awesome!"

If only you knew Haruhi… if only you knew.

"But seriously, how lucky we were that Komoe sensei came all the way from…"

Suddenly Haruhi stopped talking… that's strange.

"Kyon… Komoe Sensei… She was from Academy City wasn't she?"

"Yeah…"

She also face palmed… ok this is officially weird.

"I can't believe it… I was so focused on the obvious that I forgot the important, I could have tried to get some information out of her!"

She grabbed her head with her hands and sulked, but not for too long.

"I wonder… maybe she's still around… ok guys, today's meeting is over, I've to go!"

She grabbed her stuff as fast as she could and ran away… leaving us alone in this awkward atmosphere; we remained as we were, each one of us doing the things we usually do, it'd be fine to leave this as it is… but I just have to ask something that's been bothering me.

"Kanzaki san, Ichigo san, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

Suddenly the attention of every other person on the room was on me as both girls just nodded giving me permission to speak.

"I was wondering… I'm pretty sure that you know that Touma is moving back to Academy City this Sunday and I wanted to know if that changes anything about your status quo in the brigade."

The room remained quiet for a second but that was broken by Kanzaki san chuckling, she stared at me in a way that didn't make me feel uncomfortable as she had a nice smile on her face.

"Dummy, the fact that he's moving changes nothing for me, my mission never had anything to do with him in the first place, we only met here because of a coincidence… You're not getting rid of me so easily." she chuckled some more.

"Yeah, I guess you're right… sorry… it's just that… Asahina san's right, you've out of it the whole day and I was wondering if Touma moving had anything to do with it."

She blushed lightly and looked away… "No… Not really… I'm just a little tired lately… sorry if I made you guys worry…"

Ok, that's about as much of an answer I'm going to get out of her "I see… how about you Ichigo san? If I remember correctly you were only here because you wanted to protect Touma, does that means you have to leave?"

"No, it's true that the original reason for Misaka to stay here is gone, but because we wish to continue our cooperation with Yuki, one of us must remain in this town to continue our connection with her and since I'm the one she's most familiar with, I was chosen for that task… Misaka explains the reasoning behind her current mission."

"I see…"

"…Also… I want to stay here."

That last sentence was missing something… but I don't feel like pointing it out.

"Ok, I guess that settles it… sorry I brought such a weird topic out of nowhere."

"It's ok, don't worry about it… Misaka says honestly"

"It's only natural for you to worry about that."

Well, it's seems I was worrying over nothing… funny I've only known those two for about a week, but for some reason the possibility of them gone really bothered me… I guess they clicked so well in here and helped us so much already that I just want them to stay with us.

**Sunday:**

It was finally the date of Touma departure from this town, the past few days had been really calm and nothing of particular interest happened on them… thank god, after the roller coaster we had last week is nice to be able to relax for a while… anyway me and the rest of the brigade were currently gathered in the train station to wish Touma and Index san goodbye.

"Touma~! Why are all these girls here…? It's just like when we moved from Academy City!"

And together with us was pretty much every girl from school that took an interest for Touma in the past three weeks… they were a lot.

Touma took a couple of steps backwards "Index wait, I can explain…"

The nun jumped at him and bit his head as a punishment… that have got to hurt.

"…They're just classmates I swear!"

She let go of him and pouted… "…That's the same thing you said last time."

"Because it's the same situation… such misfortune."

I couldn't help but chuckle "Good to see you guys getting along well."

"The worst part is that I'm kind of used to it."

After he said that, the train that would take them home arrived on the station.

"Well, people, it was a pleasure to meet you and go to school together, but this is goodbye."

"Bye bye, Haruhi san, Kyon san, Smiley kun and everyone else."

It was finally time to say our goodbyes.

Koizumi was the first to speak using his regular smile "Goodbye Touma kun, Index san."

Then it was Asahina san "Bye, Touma kun, Sister san, we didn't really interact too much, but still I wish you well."

Nagato just nodded.

"Goodbye, it's a shame we couldn't be together longer… Misaka says saddened by your departure."

"Take care of yourself and Index, ok?" Kanzaki san said that with a tough expression, but you could see she cared.

"Of course!" ok, now the only ones left were me and Haruhi.

"Bye… it's a shame you had to be someone so normal…"

If only you knew Haruhi, if only you knew.

"…But technically I met our two first supernatural phenomenon thanks to you… so I guess meeting you wasn't a total waste, good luck."

Ah my dear leader, always so charming and nice.

"And you too Index chan, it was fun, thanks for everything."

"Yeah, thank you for your help Haruhi san, Kyon san."

Ok now I'm the only one left.

"Touma, Index san, thanks a lot for your help the other day, it's was really nice meeting you guys."

"Same here Kyon kun, sorry for all the troubles I caused… remember to call me if you ever need my help."

"Ok, same here."

We shook hands and then the train's door finally opened, Touma turned around ready to go in, but as soon as he tried to enter he was greeted by a familiar face…

"Biri Biri… what are you… wait forget it, I know…"

"What's going on? Why is there a crowd here?"

Touma took a step back and sweat dropped.

"Yeah, I tried to tell you but you forgot to give me your number again… I'm moving back to Academy City today."

We were expecting her to get angry; however she just smiled "Really! Wonderful…" and then cleared her throat to try to hide it"… I mean… good, now we can finally settle our…"

Touma just sighed and moved past her, into the train together with Index san.

"Yeah, yeah… whatever… Bye bye everyone!"

"Hey, wait! I'm going back with you… oh hey Haruhi san, Ichigo chan and the rest… nice seeing you but I have to go… Bye!" Mikoto san said hi as quickly as she could with a weird smile and then jumped back into the train… after a few minutes the doors closed and the train departed, we stayed until it was completely out of sight.

"Well… I suppose we should leave now."

All the members of Touma's fan club had already left, so I guess there's no point in staying here any longer.

"You guys…? What are you doing here?"

Huh… we heard a familiar voice behind us and turned around to find… The Computer Research Society President.

"What are you doing here?"

He chuckled "Just so you know, I just came back from my trip as an exchange student…"

No wonder why I hadn't seen the guy lately.

"…So I spent the last 3 weeks living in Acade…"

"Yeah, yeah.. Whatever, we don't care… let's go everyone!" Haruhi just ignored him and walked away… thank god.

Anyway, after that little incident we got out of the station and parted ways… As I was going back I couldn't help but wonder about what expects us in the future, Koizumi mentioned that it's likely we'll have another incident in the fu… Wooah!

I was suddenly pulled towards an alley that I was passing by, immediately after I felt someone wrapping an arm around me and my back being pressed against a couple of really soft things so a persons face could rest on my shoulder… it was then that I realized the arm had pressed a button on the cell phone it was carrying.

"Ok… let's see how it looks…"

The person withdrew from her position and it was then when I turned around and found that it was none other than my newest fan.

"Shizuri… what are you doing here?"

"Yes it's perfect… Oh sorry Kyon did I scare you? Give me a second so I can mail me your new wallpaper and I'll be right with you…"

Wallpaper…? Now that I think about that phone she has looks exactly like mine… she quickly finished whatever she was doing and took my hand so she could place the phone on it.

"There you go… sorry I had to borrow it, but I needed to make some modifications to it."

So it was my cell… no wonder I couldn't find it.

"Modifications?"

"Don't ask me about them, I'd rather if you find them out on your own."

"Ok…" Whatever, I'm just happy I got this thing back, it was uncomfortable not to have it and I just don't have money for a new one… Anyway, I put the phone in one of my pockets and then Mugino stared at me in the eyes with a little blush on her face and a cute smile.

"I've come to say goodbye, our team vacation is over and we need to get back to the city A.S.A.P… sorry we had to meet like this, but I just didn't want my subordinates finding out about us so soon…"

'Us' I like that even less than when she says I'm hers.

"Anyway, I'll try to visit you whenever I can, but I'll probably be quite busy for a while so I don't know when that'll be, but please look forward to it."

"Ok, Shizuri, good luck…" Feel free to take all the time you want though.

"And till then, here's a little something to remember me for…"

As she said that she quickly moved near me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, she remained like that for a while before separating a little, with a mild blush appearing on her face… (And probably on mine too, I'm human after all.)

"That's a little token of my affection… and a thank you gift for helping me out the other day."

Then she moved her face near my ear to whisper.

"Next time, we'll do more than that…"

She completely separated from me the blush on her face becoming a little more prominent.

"…It's a promise!"

She turned around and quickly walked away, disappearing from sight in a few seconds.

You know, I'm confused; she's pretty aggressive when it comes to this whole seduction thing, but just now… when she kissed me… I had the feeling she was actually aiming for my lips but didn't have the courage to go all the way through… Ok, I hate to admit it, but I find that to be extremely cute.

But oh well enough about that… now I'm curious to know about the 'modifications' she did to my phone.

Ok, first thing I can notice is the picture she just took it's indeed my wallpaper, she managed to capture the exact second I smiled when I felt her breasts pressing against my back, this coupled with her position and smile of her own, make us look like a lovey dovey couple enjoying a date; no wonder why she wanted a copy of this… besides that I have: a Mugino custom theme for the UI, a couple of Mugino themed apps (including one that allows me to have unlimited text, voice and video messaging with her at no cost), her entire contact information and a few extra stuff… ok… I'll admit she definitely took an extra step to make all this stuff look professional, but I'm going to have to delete it… or I would if she hadn't password protected it, I'm guessing that's also a new feature.

'_Wedding march'_

Oh yeah, that's the custom ringtone she installed if I ever get a message from her and apparently if it were from another girl that's not my mother I'd get the funeral one… talk about subtlety… oh well let's just see what she wants.

"_Kyon darling, I forgot to mention, last week I went swimsuit shopping and I took a few pictures of me wearing my favorites models, so I decided to send them to you so you could remember me… needless to say these are for your eyes only 'Glare'"_

You know I don't know which is creepier: the whole 'darling' thing, the fact that she actually has a custom smiley for the _'Glare' _part or that it works flawlessly… oh well might as well check the pictures she sent me… I mean it wouldn't surprise me if she had some way to know whether or not I saw them, so I rather nor take that risk… yeah I know that doesn't sound convincing… but screw it.

Open: Downloads\Swinsuit_Colection\001 .jpg

… Ok, I think I'm going to need a new hidden folder.

**The windowless building:**

Back in Academy City, the general director Aleister Crowley was currently receiving a visit from the one of the few persons allowed to walk freely into his home… Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

"I hear Kamiyan is coming back to the city today."

"So it would seem …"

"You know I almost felt bad for the kid you brought here in his place… I heard he didn't go through the curriculum or got registered into the city's database; it's like he was never here in the first place…"

They looked at directly at each other eyes for a second.

"...So… I'm assuming your experiment failed, if Kamiyan is coming back it's because he fulfilled his purpose already and since the universe didn't changed or anything then it means your theory was wrong."

"How can you tell if the universe is the same… three years ago that girl created it as it is now but I doubt you remember anything in particular about that date."

Tsuchimikado took a little step backwards… he definitely hadn't considered that possibility; Crowley for his part chuckled at his response.

"However based on the information I managed to gather, you're indeed correct, Kamijou Touma's power was not enough to completely negate that girl's influence in our universe and she tried to counter him by creating a new one when she felt threatened… I must admit I definitely didn't expect that."

"So you theory was incorrect?"

"Not quite, it's true that the reaction was not the one I expected, but that doesn't disproved my theory about her being the ultimate esper… it just means that I was mistaken in that particular point, you could say I underestimated that girl's powers."

"Funny...You don't seem troubled."

"Of course not… I witnessed the birth of a universe first hand, I had read about this 'closed spaces' you mentioned on your reports, but it's nothing compared to seeing inside one, especially since your friend was slowing her down so I could really appreciate the details of the creation."

"Mind if I ask something… how did you saw all that stuff?"

…

"Does it have anything to do with those girls with night goggles one of my clients mentioned… the SISTERS project… 10000 girls connected though a worldwide network sharing their memories, I'm assuming you wouldn't let something like that go unmonitored so if one of them managed to enter the close space you could just analyze her memories to get your data."

…

"Or maybe it's that nanomachine project I've heard about the other day… Underline was it? If you used that thing you could just program it to follow Suzumiya san and her friends for a few days without them noticing."

…

"Or was it both?"

…

"Whatever…" he sighed "You know I must admit I'm not surprised to hear you'd create a project that involved killing 10000 girls to spread AIM around the world; but stalking a bunch of teenagers 24/7… that's a little low, even for you."

"I refuse to take morals lessons from someone that sold off his God just because he wanted to marry his sister."

Tsuchimikado made an annoyed expression.

"Ok… ok… I'll leave that alone… so mind if I ask what are you going to do now? I doubt you'll leave Suzumiya san alone."

"Why would I? It'd be a shame to let such a wonderful being go when her powers could be so useful… if anything I need to make sure they don't go to waste."

"So… what are you going to do?"

"Let's just say that if I can't go to the mountain, then the mountain will come to me…"

* * *

**Omake**

**A nightmare on Yandere Street:**

I was in my classroom, the red tinted light coming through the windows; this was a scene I had seen a million times in my dreams… however there was something odd about it this time…

"Hey Shi chan, are you sure what you're saying is true?"

"Of course Ryo chan, just trust me…"

In front of me there were the two girls that were fighting last time; however they seemed to have gotten over their differences… they looked at me and quickly got closer with a really creepy smile on their faces.

"You just trust me…"

I woke up, it seems like I just had my recurring nightmare again... that thing just keep getting upgraded; anyway I tried to get up… but that's when I realized that there were two ladies sleeping right beside me… and from what I could tell, neither of them seemed to be wearing clothes.

"You were right Shi chan… I was really able to experiment an explosion of data coming from within."

"Didn't I tell you Ryo chan…" She looked at me with a weird smile"…now it's my turn… come on Kyon I'll show you the true reason they call me the melt downer."

Ok… those analogies are really lame… but I still don't like the way they sound.

"Kyon, Don't resist… you're mine now…"

…

_Wake up Kyon… for the love of anything that's right in this world WAKE UP!_

I woke up again… this time for real apparently.

"Haruhi…"

She stood in the corner of the room looking at me with disgust and an angry blush.

"Finally you woke up!"

"Haruhi… What happened?"

"Nothing! Just tell me, were you having your recurring nightmare again?"

"Yeah, I think… was I doing something weird while I was sleeping?"

She blushed even more.

"I don't want to talk about that; just hurry up and go to a psychologist already!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

You know I must admit that after complaining about going through the hill my school is in every day ever since I got enrolled in here, it does feel like I accomplished something when I can honestly say it's nowhere near as bad as it used to; not because it's easier mind you, but rather because it means that the worst part of my day was over and I could finally rest from Haruhi's hellish training, get to school and take a nap in my 'not so comfortable but I'll take it' desk; I guess that's not really a good accomplishment, but it is something.

"Hey Kyon, I didn't know there was another new girl in your club."

Unfortunately Taniguchi and Kunikida decided to enquire me about something, disrupting my only chance to sleep before the bell rang.

"New girl? Are you guys talking about Ichigo san?"

"I'm not sure, is she the girl with the unexpressive eyes and the funny speech pattern that's not Nagato san?"

"Yep, that's definitely Ichigo san."

"So that's her name, I saw her at the kendo match but I didn't know she was a member."

"Of course she is, she joined the same day Kanzaki san did."

Taniguchi got his hand on his chin trying to look smart… that didn't work.

"I see, that explains it, I was wondering how could I miss such a lovely lady getting into our school, but if you tell me that she transferred the same day as Kaori chan then it's no wonder I did, not that she's bad looking thought, AA at the very least, but if either of my goddesses are involved then I won't be able to look at anyone else."

"Goddesses?"

"Yes, the beautiful Asahina san and the sexy Kaori chan… ah we're so lucky to be on the same school as them. Tell me Kyon, is it true that those two are actually friends?"

"Yeah, they're even on a first name basis already so I guess you could say they're pretty close."

"Wow really, do you think they'd be willing to…"

"In your dreams!" and hey who knows maybe on mine too, better that the last one I had about that.

"Seriously you're such a…"

As Taniguchi was trying to finish that sentence he was interrupted by the bell ringing and the teacher entering the classroom.

"Everyone, there is something you need to know, next week the school will be closed between Thursday and Saturday in order to do some maintenance work and some other minor things such as a little pest control in the main building."

After he said this the entire class cheered and celebrated like crazy while I was left wondering… what kind of 'little' pest control they had to do that needed to close the entire school? better to avoid the cafeteria for a while.

"Yes!"

Huh? I noticed Haruhi said something and turned around to see she had big smile on her face, but unfortunately I couldn't ask her about it as the class began and I became so sleepy that I just had to take a little nap.

**After school:**

I was in the clubroom, calmly playing chess with Koizumi to pass the time, it had been a few days since Touma left our school and while we were all a little anxious about what would happen next, we had to continue with our regular routine so Haruhi wouldn't suspect something was wrong.

"Check mate."

"What! Again? This is like the 15th time you beat me today Koizumi."

"Yeah, I've been pretty lucky lately; care for another match?"

"Sure, could you please set up the board while I go to the toilet?"

"Ok, go ahead."

I stood up, opened the door of the clubroom and found myself staring at the eyes of dead itself… no, I'm not kidding, they were red and belonged to an albino guy with a weird cane that wasn't even looking back at me, thank god, because there was this calm yet horrible murderous aura coming from him and it felt like he could kill me without a second thought if he ever did, It was so bad I was lucky my bladder didn't failed me.

"Excuse me; is this the SOS brigade club room? Says Misaka as Misaka is looking for someone."

Eh? Suddenly I heard someone talking below me, upon closer inspection I noticed a little girl standing near the albino, and curiously she looked just like a younger version of Ichigo san.

"Yes these are the SOS brigade head quarters, how can we help you?"

Haruhi got off the computer (She had been all over that thing recently for some reason) and moved closer to the people on the doorway, I turned around to see her and I could notice that I wasn't the only one shaken by that guy, Koizumi was looking at him with a smile that couldn't quite hide his fear and Asahina san had hidden behind Kanzaki san, who had assumed a defensive stance and was ready to attack if she had to, even Nagato and Ichigo san stopped their reading.

"Good, is Misaka Ichigo san here at the moment? Ask Misaka as Misaka goes along with formalities."

"Yeah, sure she's right over there, are you two related?"

"Yes, says Misaka as Misaka is affirming."

"I see, no wonder I thought you looked alike, please come on in. Ichigo chan you have visitors!"

The little girl entered the room cheerfully and got in front of Nagato, while his companion calmly took seat in a spare chair we had around the room.

"It's a pleasure to finally be able to meet you in person Nagato san, says Misaka as Misaka is bowing."

"Same here… Nagato says happily."

Wait a minute, the speech pattern that little girl has is pretty similar to the one Ichigo san and Nagato use, she's probably a member of their network.

"Do you mind if we talk in private for a while? Ask Misaka as Misaka needs to discuss some network related things."

Nagato and Ichigo san nodded stood up and quickly left the room together with the kid, her companion however didn't move and remained seated as he was… and unfortunately he seemed to call Haruhi's attention for some reason.

"Are you that girl's guardian or something?"

…

The guy completely ignored her and then proving once again that Haruhi has no common sense whatsoever, she moved her hand near his nose and slowly prepared her index finger to strike it, he noticed this and pushed a switch that was on a chocker he was wearing with a cocky face that screamed _'bring it on bitch, just try it!' _it was like his murderous aura just doubled and was running wild; Haruhi didn't care about that and unleashed her finger without hesitation trying to hit the guy's nose right on the tip at full force…

"Ouch!"

She hit him so hard that his head tilted back a little and he quickly used his hand to rub his nose, however the most surprising thing was his face, he looked completely shocked that Haruhi actually managed to touch him, and so pissed off that for a second it seemed like he was going to attack her.

"So, like I was saying… Are you that girl's guardian or something?"

The guy took a long break, you could see that he wanted to kill her but was holding back for some reason.

"Yeah… Something like that…"

Haruhi looked back at him with a nice, hypocrital smile on her face.

"See, that wasn't that hard, was it?"

Then she moved back to her seat while the guy stared at her as he grabbed his cane with all his strength, he was so mad the thing was shaking like crazy, eventually he sighed and pressed the switch on his chocker back off angrily.

As a near suffocating atmosphere remained on the club room, I was forced to leave the place thanks to my bladder that was about to explode; I felt really uneasy leaving like this, but I had an emergency!

…

Ok, after I took care of nature's call I wondered whether or not I should go back into the room, I mean I don't want to be around that guy, but at the same time I don't want my friends to be alone with him either…

"Kyon kun!"

Eh? I turned around and found Asahina san and Koizumi looking for me.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Kaori insisted we leave the room and helped us getting out without rising Suzumiya san's suspicion."

"So she and Haruhi are alone with him? What the heck was she thinking…?"

"Unfortunately, I believe she took the right decision."

"What do you mean Koizumi?" His face was all serious; I don't like this one bit.

"If that person is who I think he is, then if worse comes to worse we'd just be on her way."

"And just who do you think he is?"

"I'm not 100% sure since I've never seen a picture of him; however that guy perfectly fits the profile of Accelerator, the strongest esper in the world."

"What? That's just great, we've barely managed to put the damage number 4 did behind us and now we have to deal with number 1."

"It's not that simple, if that person it's indeed the Accelerator then we're in a lot more trouble than you think, he's far above the rest of the espers, some say he's so powerful he can split an entire country in half, others that he could even survive a nuke… however I've never heard that he used a cane, not to mention that he's supposed to be untouchable but…"

"I would take that with a grain of salt Koizumi, remember this is Haruhi we're talking about, if she wants to hit someone right on the tip of his nose; then she will hit that someone right on the tip of his nose, esper powers or not."

"I guess you're right… I'd like to believe that the rumors of him having an accident and being weaker than before are true; however just like you said it's all conjecture at this point."

"Excuse me, can I talk to you guys for a second, ask Misaka as Misaka demands conversation."

Ah? We turned around and found the little girl that was with that guy together with Nagato. Asahina san got closer and talked to her with her sweet voice.

"Of course, how can we help you?"

"I just wanted to thank you guys for taking care of Misaka 11111, says Misaka as Misaka is bowing politely."

"There is no need to thanks us, Ichigo san has been a great help and we're happy to have her with us; right guys."

We both nodded; she and her sisters had been quite helpful during the Touma incident, even if there was a little misunderstanding between us at first.

"That's great to hear, says Misaka as Misaka is happy. Please continue to look after her in the future, says Misaka as Misaka is asking for a favor."

"Well, Nagato san is the one that spends the most time with her, but we´re all Ichigo san´s friends so don't worry about anything."

"I see… thank you Oneechan, says Misaka as Misaka is really grateful."

"You done already stupid brat?"

Coming from the direction of the club room was the albino guy being lead by Ichigo san.

"Yes, says Misaka as Misaka is ready to leave."

We moved aside so he could pass and he ignored us as if we weren't there.

"Let's go then."

"Goodbye everyone says Misaka waving goodbye as Misaka has to go now."

They quickly leaved the school and disappeared in the horizon. "Seriously, what was that all about?"

"That was Last Order, the system administrator of the Misaka network and her guardian… Nagato explains the situation."

"What? That kid was the admin you were talking about before?" Ok, I definitely didn´t expect that.

"Yes, she wanted to meet me on person so we could discuss some matters related with a few projects we´re developing right now, including assigning me proper access to the network instead of the limited guest access I´ve been using so far… Nagato states the basis of the conversation she had with her."

"That means Yuki is now an official member of the Misaka network… Misaka says overjoyed."

I could notice that both girls´s mouths arched a little bit upwards.

"Well, congratulations Nagato… wait that doesn´t mean you have to say your name more times when you speak right?"

She just shook her head slightly. Ok then we should get back to the club room now, wouldn't want Haruhi to get suspicious.

**Last Order and Accelerator:**

After going outside the school, this curious couple had remained silent during most of the way; however there were a few things that the stronger esper had to ask his companion.

"Did you finish the business you had here?"

"Yes, says Misaka as Misaka is affirming. Thank you for accompanying me so far away from the city, says Misaka as Misaka is grateful."

"Don´t mention it."

"You know, that Misaka we met today is currently among the ones with more individuality traits besides myself, says Misaka as Misaka tries to start a conversation."

"What the hell does that means?"

"The thing is, originally the SISTERS were programmed to act as a single entity, but ever since the experiment ended, individuality has begun to spread among them, sometimes they take diets to have a slimmer figure, or wear a necklace they got from an important person, this one in particular made herself a name out of her number to make interaction with people outside the network easier, says Misaka as Misaka continues with the conversation."

"That's inevitable, if all of you live in different environments, that kind of stuff will happen, it's only natural to reject perfect symmetry after all."

"That's correct, the funny thing is that currently there is disagreement over whether or not that's a good thing and most members still see themselves as part of one single entity, says Misaka as Misaka is running out of things to add to the conversation."

"Doesn't the fact that there's disagreement about something proves that you're different… "

"I guess so, says Misaka finishing this topic as Misaka is going to change the subject… By the way, did you have any trouble while you were there? I noticed that you activated your powers, says Misaka as Misaka is curious."

He looked aside annoyed "Tsk… I don't want to talk about that… but still I'm surprised, I thought you'd cut out my connection if I used them."

"I trust you…"

She moved in front of him, walking backwards so she could look at his eyes directly.

"…and since I didn´t hear any kind of commotion, I'm assuming you kept your promise to me, says Misaka as Misaka is happy."

"Yeah, yeah, I only used my powers for self defense and I didn´t attack anyone… not that ribbon wearing bitch didn´t deserve it! Tell me do you know just what the hell is she? There is no way that girl is normal! She's just like him but worse."

"I don´t know, you´re right in that she is an special existence that goes above a regular human, but even among organizations that have been studying her for years, there is no consensus about anything, not even the way they refer to her, says Misaka as Misaka states the basic information."

She moved around him and went back to walking by his side.

"But I can tell you that she is able to change reality as she wishes, even without noticing; there are tons of data about what she can or cannot do and some of it even seems to contradict itself, says Misaka getting a headache as Misaka is thinking about this too hard."

"I see; is she the one responsible for getting my calculation capabilities back to normal?"

A couple of weeks ago during his fight against the Hounds Dogs, Accelerator noticed that whenever he pressed the switch on his chocker, his power went back to the level he had before the accident, something that made 'solving' that problem a lot easier that it would've been without them (he still needed a little push near the end though); he tried asking Last Order about it, but she just told him that it was because an special guest had connected to her network.

"Nope, that is thanks to Nagato san, the girl who I was talking to, says Misaka as Misaka clears the misunderstanding, She's the one that's helping me develop that special project I promised you, says Misaka as Misaka is teasing"

"Her… is she one of those humanoid interfaces I've heard about before?"

"That's correct, says Misaka as Misaka is affirming."

"Ha! If she can only match half of my former self, then those things aren't anywhere near as strong as they told me."

"That's not exactly true, we limited her input on the calculations while we optimize the data transfer to prevent the network being overloaded; not to mention we were unsure if going above your maximum capabilities was a good idea, says Misaka as Misaka scratches her chin."

"So then what? You trying to say she's stronger than me?"

"That's hard to measure, humanoid interfaces such as Nagato san use a different protocol to do everything, they don't even possess AIM per se, but rather a different kind of dispersion field that's nearly impossible to analyze but it's perfectly compatible with ours to the point someone could easily mistake it for it, says Misaka grabbing her chin as Misaka is trying to look smart"

Accelerator smiled creepily and whispered to himself. "I see… That'll only make things more interesting…"

"Did you say something? Says Misaka as Misaka thinks she heard you say something."

"Nothing, I didn't said a thing stupid brat."

**Back to the SOS Brigade:**

We entered the room and found Haruhi still on the computer and Kanzaki san sitting next to her in a defensive position; I made a sign to her that everything was fine and she breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"You're back, why did you guys leave at the same time? Did you all eat some bad food or something?"

I'm afraid to say my bowels are none of your business.

"Oh well, I hope it's nothing serious, because your leader has something important to announce and I need you guys perfectly healthy for our next mission."

I wonder what it could be. I mean she was so serious about this that she even made us stand in a line on the back of the room while she got in front of us just like that general in that movie when he gave his speech; the only thing missing was a flag behind her.

"Everyone, as you know the reason I created the SOS Brigade is to dedicate our lives to solve mysteries and find any kind of supernatural phenomenon."

And here I was thinking you did it because you were bored.

"Of the later ones, we have only found two so far, the nun with a black hole on her stomach and the teacher that doesn't age… I'll admit those are not exactly what I had in mind at first but they count."

I think they don't care about meeting your standards either, so it's fair.

"But the important thing is that both Index chan and Komoe sensei had something in common, they both came here from the same place…"

Oh god, not that again.

"As you know it's almost impossible to enter that city uninvited, I even learned recently that it's actually international territory so if we try to force our way in we may even get deported or worse; for a long time I actually thought that we had no chance to know what's happening in there, I even tried to rely on the transfer student, but that ended up being a complete disappointment."

She sighed and took a second before continuing.

"However, I refused to give up, so I looked at that pamphlet I had and noticed it had the contact information of an important person on it, I wrote him a mail asking a few things and surprisingly he answered me back; so I've been negotiating with him since Monday and today we finally managed to reach an agreement… Everyone, I'm happy to announce that the SOS Brigade is going to Academy City!"

**Prelude to an invisible war **

**Somewhere in London:**

Currently the Archbishop of the church of Necessarius was relaxing over a nice cup of tea while she waited the arrival of an important visitor; it was in that moment when she was approached by one of the magicians under her command, Stiyl Magnus.

"Excuse my rudeness Archbishop."

"Stiyl, didn't I told you to not address me so formally when I'm wearing my leisure clothes, you can call me by my name."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok; anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about that mission, the one you sent Kanzaki to Japan for."

"What about it?"

"I wanted to know your opinion about that girl she's protecting."

"My opinion doesn't matter; the current position of the Church of England and by extension the one of the Church of Necessarius is that we consider her a manifestation of God's holy will, and we should act accordingly to that."

"I know that, but there's no way the higher ups of any church would accept someone as their God with just the reports we got from him, and I find highly suspicious that things went so smoothly."

"What are you talking about? It's only normal for us to accept her for what she is, that girl has shown powers beyond our comprehension, the creation of an entire universe it's not something a mere mortal could do, we humans are not allowed to do such things, it's against our nature."

"But if she were a human then one could only refer to her as the person who is higher than God or 'La Persona superiore a Dio' if you were saying it in Italian and that's the highest status anyone can achieve, even people revered as Magician Gods would be nothing compared to her."

"What's your point?"

"Nothing, it's just that remind me of something Kanzaki mentioned in one of her reports, it seems that girl has grown quite attached to her and even call her 'Kaori neesan' of all things."

"It doesn't surprise me; she's the kind of woman that inspires respect among those around her, its only natural for an impressionable young girl to see her as a role model."

"What a coincidence don't you think? It's almost sounds like you used your influence to get her accepted as a manifestation of God so you could convince Kanzaki to take the mission, full knowing something like this would happen and gain a huge influence over someone so powerful while everyone else was still ignorant of her existence or wondering about what to do about her."

She chuckled a little.

"I'm afraid you're thinking too hard about this, I only thought that someone so special needed protection from the corruption of this world and it's true I might have done a few things to speed up the process… that which you mentioned its but a side effect."

She looked at him with a smile that showed no malice what so ever, after seeing this, the red haired magician knew he wasn't going to get more information out of her, so he just remained by her side as they waited for her visitor.

"She's late; I wonder what could have happened to her? Stiyl, are you sure you gave the orders to let her in when she arrived?"

"Of course, I told everyone you were waiting for her, not that it matters, that woman seems to just appear out of nowhere when you least expect it."

"I get that a lot."

Suddenly Stiyl heard a voice behind his back, he turned around and found the young woman they have been expecting, she had brownish almost orange hair and her eyes were the same color, this coupled with her rather voluptuous figure and her choice of clothes (a white shirt that was almost too small for her and a black mini skirt) made her quite a sight for sore eyes.

"You finally arrived… "

Suddenly the leader of one of the most powerful churches in the world got puppy eyes that almost seemed to beg and a voice similar to that of a child asking for his birthday present in advance.

"Tell me… did you bring it?"

"Sure, it's over there."

She pointed at a huge box that was beside her; on it was the name of that popular brand of bath accessories that was all the rage right now, upon seeing it the Archbishop almost started jumping for joy.

"Finally, I can't wait to try it out."

She stood up and examined the box, carefully unpacking its contents like a kid that just got his Christmas present; Stiyl for his part looked at the visitor with a little suspicion.

"Funny, the box says it's the 10000 version, yet for what I know this particular model only goes as high as 4000, mind if I ask how did you get something like this?"

The woman just looked at him with a cute expression and blinked.

"That's classified information."

"Stiyl, please don't be rude to our guest, she's almost too kind to bring me this wonderful present; by the way, could you please take it with the others? I'll have my fun with it later."

"Sure."

The red haired boy quickly grabbed the box and moved it towards the storage room.

"Anyway, could I offer you some tea?"

"Yes please."

Both girls seated in a nearby table as the Archbishop served a cup of tea and a few pastries to her friend.

"Here you go."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome; by the way did you manage to check the things I asked you about."

"I was; luckily for you, the higher ups made an exception in your case, so I can tell you a few things."

She took a sip of her tea before continuing.

"It seems that you were correct, the Roman Catholic Church does know about Suzumiya san's existence, I'm not sure how they found out about her, but it seems that the guys in the Vatican went crazy when they discovered her, calling back all of their important people and even suspending all but the most basic activities of the entire church while they discussed her case."

"With 'important people' I suppose you mean those four?"

"Correct."

For a second you could see a worried face in the Archbishop.

"I'm guessing they're not going to just leave her alone."

"That's classified information; they haven't decided what to do about her yet."

"I see… Ok, thanks a lot for the information, I should withhold my end of the deal, I'll tell Stiyl to accompany you in your mission, are you sure you don't need more people?"

"No, we'll be fine."

"Ok, if you say so… but I'm surprised, I thought the people at your organization weren't allowed to intervene directly and could only act through another person."

"And that's exactly what I need your boy for; something really important is about to happen and I need him to protect me and act in my stead."

"Well I guess that if there's anyone that knows what she's doing in this world it has to be you; but still, are you sure you're going to be fine?"

"Please don't worry about me; I'm an expert in working behind the scenes."

"I see, then I guess I worried over nothing, good luck in you mission."

"Thank you."

After that both women chuckled and continued with their tea party.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

"Everyone, I'm happy to announce that the SOS Brigade is going to Academy City!"

After those words have been said all of us became speechless, it was like someone just pulled the rug below our feet and made us fall into the ground… only that there was no ground but rather a huge void that would be the universe if we let this be, personally I felt like I had just been slapped in the face and it must have really showed because even Haruhi seemed to notice.

"I know, I know… I can totally relate with being speechless, I was too when Mr. Crowley first contacted me."

"Mr. Crowley?" Koizumi finally snapped out of the daze he was when he heard that name.

"Yeah, Mr. Edward Alexander Crowley, he's the general director of the city, I got his address from the pamphlet I had and wrote him a mail explaining about us, I must admit I thought I was wasting my time at first but he actually answered me back and after some discussion he allowed me to go, he even agreed to cover all of my expenses, take care of my lodging and even promised to get me a tour guide so I can meet the entire place…"

'_Snap!'_ that would be the sound Koizumi's face would do if it could; he was so shocked that he was having trouble keeping his smile intact.

"...Apparently he thinks I could qualify for a scholarship there so he wants me to have an interview with him and despite that I'm not interested in changing schools, I accepted so he would let me into the city."

'_Crack!' _Eventually his smile shattered completely and what was left was nothing but an empty stare that just looked at our leader in disbelief and he wasn't the only one at that, the rest of the brigade had similar expressions… well maybe not Nagato or Ichigo san, but their mouths were arching downwards a little.

"I can't believe I was so lucky, we were having trouble setting the date of the visit since apparently a normal weekend wouldn't do; but then they announced that the school will be closed next week for 3 days; that way I won't have to wait until the next holiday!"

Suddenly she stopped talking and finally noticed that we looked like she just announced our execution.

"Eh… why the long faces? Oh wait I know, how could I be so careless?"

She shook her head slowly and then looked back at us.

"I got so excited about the trip I made it sound like I'm the only one going, of course you're coming with me, I had to do some convincing on my part but in the end Mr. Crowley agreed to let you guys go to into the city too; there's no way I'd forget about my precious brigade and the wonderful people on it, we're a team and we have to go there together!"

I must admit that hearing her speaking so highly about us definitely makes me feel better and it seemed to have a similar effect on my colleagues as well.

"But unfortunately he's not so kind to pay for your expenses too and he's charging us 500$ per person besides me for the lodging and transportation, that's around 40.000¥ each just for that and look…"

She got all serious for a second, but you could see she was still cheery.

"…I know that's a lot of money to get in such a short time and that is kind of unfair for me to get everything for free while you guys have to pay but…"

She made a fist and looked at us with extreme confidence.

"…don't worry about anything, we still have a week before the trip and I promise you I'll find a way to get the money, I'm not entirely sure of what I'm going to do yet, but I'll get it!"

Then she kind of mildly blushed and looked at us with a little tenderness.

"It's the least I can do, after all when I was ready to throw in the towel after I learned the truth about Touma kun, you guys cheered me up with that wonderful performance you made for me and I decided that there was no way I was giving up and letting you guys down so because of that I started going through all of my evidence again… it was you who made this possible!"

You know usually this is the part where I would do a comment about how she shouldn't have bothered… but if she says it like that then I'd feel like a bastard for doing it, it's not fair!

"Well… that's about everything I had to say…" She cleared her throat and went back to the usual Haruhi. "…Now I know there are some arrangements you have to do and I hope there's no trouble getting permissions or anything, so I'm going to finish this meeting early today, but before we leave are there any questions?"

…

"Come on guys, say something! I know it's hard to believe, but it's true!"

I have to admit I don't know how should I feel right now, I mean on one hand I have this horrible felling of impending doom, but after seeing Haruhi's smile filled with joy I found it impossible to get mad at her, she's even happier than when we were being attacked by ITEM.

"Well Haruhi… I don't know what to say… congratulations!"

"Thank you Kyon!"

"Suzumiya san… are you sure we can trust this Crowley person?"

Koizumi looked like he was still a little shaken and the tone of voice he used to speak to her was slightly different from his normal one.

"Yes, I can't blame you for being cautious Koizumi kun, I must admit I also found weird that they'd let a foreigner build an independent city in Japanese territory, so I'm guessing he must be someone really important and I'm not doubting he's in some shady businesses too; but still for what I could tell I doubt he has second intentions, I mean what could he possibly gain from doing this? Nothing!"

I noticed Koizumi made a little 'tsk' sound and then forced his expression back to the usual one.

"I see, I suppose you're right."

"Of course, well… if it's there nothing more to add then… you're all dismissed; please remember to make all the necessary preparations for the trip and if there's any trouble at all please talk to me about it, I'm sure we can work it out; now if you excuse me I need to get going, I have to speak about this at home… man I can't wait to tell Saten chan the news!"

She grabbed her stuff and left the room as we could do nothing but stare at her powerlessly, it was only a few minutes later after she was gone that I just had to ask the question everyone had on their minds.

"So… any ideas about what to do now?"

"I… don't know…"

Koizumi was really affected by this, the guy looked like he was about to snap.

"…If Suzumiya san goes to Academy City then she'll find out about the existence of espers and that would be it, but at the same time…"

"She's so happy about going that if we stopped her the consequences would be even worse."

Kanzaki san was also a little shocked, although not as much as he was.

"What if we make sure she can't get the necessary money…? Misaka says offering an alternative."

"That's impossible, it may sound like a good plan, it's not easy for a high school student to earn 240.000¥ so fast, but if its Suzumiya san we're talking about then getting that much money is nothing."

Just like when she managed to find sponsors for the movie I suppose.

"How about trying to prevent the school from being closed…? Misaka states another alternative."

"That's not possible either, chances are that it was Suzumiya san herself that made the problem appear in the first place, so even if we solved it then another one would just pop up."

"What if one of us pretends to be sick or injured? Judging by her words earlier, she wouldn't travel unless the entire brigade is going too… Misaka starts grasping for straws."

"That's a possible solution, but then we'd only be delaying the inevitable…"

"…Not to mention that if she finds out that we're sabotaging her trip… that we're betraying her, then… I don't even want to think about what would happen. "

After Kanzaki san said those words we all shuddered.

"Still there's must be a way to stop her from going…"

You know I must admit that not letting Haruhi go to Academy City is probably the easiest solution but...

"…_I can't stand this… I just know that place must have something awesome in it … I don't know exactly what it is… I want to see it… but I can't reach it… so close but still… I just can't… I give up."_

_"…Having the thing you wish the most so close yet still being unable to get it… that is indeed a horrible feeling."_

"What if we just let her go to the city?"

As I said that everyone looked at me like I was insane.

"Listen I know it sounds crazy, but think about it, trying to stop her from getting the money is no good, if anything we should make sure she gets it so she doesn't end up destroying the economy or something worse and even if we prevent her from going there next week it'll only postpone the inevitable until the next holiday at best. What we have to do is take her there and convince her that everything is normal; I'm guessing that Crowley guy is not stupid, the thing that is in the most danger if Haruhi finds about the whole esper thing is Academy City itself, so I doubt he's planning to just tell her outright; if we take that into account then basically we just have to prevent her from seeing anything supernatural… that's the same thing we do here! And if we pull it off then it would be the end of this whole Academy City business for good, we won't even have to worry about her changing her mind about the whole scholarship thing. Basically we just have to protect her illusion!"

There was a little silence after I made my speech, but soon it was broken by the sound of Kanzaki san chuckling.

"That was quite nice speech; the catchphrase at the end was backwards though."

"I know, I think Touma was starting to rub on me."

She chuckled a little more before looking at me with confidence.

"Ok, I guess what you're saying is true, taking Suzumiya san to Academy City is probably the best way to solve this, count me in."

That's one down. "What about you Asahina san?"

"Well…" She placed her index finger on her lips and looked away a little before looking back at me with a smile "…I guess you're right Kyon kun and if everyone helps I'm sure we can do it."

Two down, I looked at Nagato and Ichigo san and they both just nodded, I'm taking that as a yes, so there's only one left.

Koizumi just sighed and recovered his smile "I guess there's no helping it; I must admit I'm not crazy about this idea, but we don't have much choice… Ok, count me on this too."

"Great, you know, I'm thinking I could call Touma and ask his help with this problem, maybe he can get into contact with Mikoto san too."

"Perfect, there's no doubt we'll meet with her and the rest of her group there so it's better if we inform her beforehand; actually we should try to get as much help as we can, this is kind of an emergency, so anyone we can trust is fine, especially if they're local or know about the city."

Everyone nodded.

"Speaking about that, we should also try to find as much information about Academy City as possible."

"I can help with that… Misaka offers her explanations."

"Seriously? That would be really helpful Ichigo san."

We turned our attention towards her as she quickly took place in front of the group.

"Academy City is located just west of Tokyo; it was established as a place where scientist could conduct research on higher technology and physic powers, the latter being the reason there are many education institutions, ranging from kindergarten to university level, thus giving the city its name… Misaka states the basic information."

"I don't get it, if the city is located just west of Tokyo how could they expect to keep the whole thing a secret."

"That's because while its existence it's not openly advertised to the general public, the city itself it's not a secret, the research conducted on it however is; usually students are handpicked by a research team that measure their potential and parents aren't even informed that their children will take part on the psychic development program until they've sign a Non Disclosure Agreement in order to ensure their silence… Misaka explains Academy City recruitment polices."

I guess that explains why Haruhi couldn't find the requirements for taking the test; there was never a public one to begin with.

"Ok, now tell, us if we go to there what are the chances of seeing an esper?"

"Really high, the city has an estimated population of 2.3 million people, around 80% of that are students and out of that percentage 60% are able to demonstrate a slight amount of psychic ability, that means that there are currently about 1.104.000 espers ranging from level 0 to 5 residing in the city, so if we stay there for 3 days the possibility of seeing one is nearly 100%… Misaka calculates the odds."

So essentially what we need to do it's kind of like going to Akihabara and prevent Haruhi from seeing an otaku.

"Still in order to succeed on this mission we don't have to do that, after all Suzmiya san meets at least two espers everyday without trouble, the thing is that as long as no one uses psychic abilities near her there shouldn't be a problem… Misaka analyze the victory conditions, if we take that into account then the probabilities of success while still heavily against us, become far closer to the realm of probable… Misaka recalculates the odds."

"Two? Oh yeah, I never thought about it until now, but you're an esper too aren't you Ichigo san?"

"That's correct, Misaka is an electromaster just like Oneesama, but unlike her who is a level 5 I'm just a level 2… Misaka explains the limits of her abilities."

She raised her hand a little and made a few sparks appear with it, as she did that Koizumi placed his hand on his chin and looked at her with extreme curiosity.

"Speaking about that, I must admit I'm not entirely familiar with the whole 'level' scale you people use to measure your abilities, all I know is that there are seven espers who are considered stronger than the rest, could you please explain us more about that?"

"With pleasure… Misaka says happily, the level scale is used in order to measure the degree one can expand and alter our personal reality, in other words how much can an esper manipulate the space around him by projecting his vision about how it should be… Misaka tries to make her explanations easier."

"I'm guessing the higher your level the more you can do that."

"Correct… Misaka answers, a level 0 is someone who despite going through the curriculum either cannot manifest or control his ability in any way whereas a level 5 would be someone that has perfect or almost perfect control over all the details about it; usually the main difference between levels would be their processing capabilities, the more calculations a person can do the more they can modify reality to fit their vision of it; for an example while Misaka is just a level 2, thanks to the shared processing power that comes as a result of the Misaka network my level can be raised to 3 and my abilities are increased as a result… Misaka explains the basis of the level system."

"So that's what the 'Railgun emulation program' you used in the fight against ITEM was all about."

Both Nagato and Ichigo san nodded.

"Currently there are only 7 registered level 5 in the entire world, all of them ranked according to how much their abilities are useful for research; so far we have been in contact with numbers 3, 4 and 1… Misaka recounts our encounters with them."

So I guess that means Haruhi actually got away with hitting the strongest esper right on the tip of his nose… you know if that weren't so scary it would actually be kind of awesome. Anyway I think I understood this whole 'level' stuff, but there's still there's something that Mikoto san mentioned the other day that's been bothering me.

"Ichigo san, is level 5 really the highest an esper can go? I noticed Mikoto san said something about a level 6 when we were explaining her about Haruhi last week."

Ichigo san looked down and her mouth arched a little downwards, I'm not sure since I'm not able to read her expressions all that well, but I have the feeling that I kind of struck a nerve with that question; however she answered me regardless.

"Theoretically speaking, it is possible for an esper to become a level 6, that is to achieve SYSTEM which means that someone is capable of understanding the will of the heavens; but in practice all the experiments trying to develop a level 6 esper have failed or… were terminated due to unforeseen circumstances… however despite these failures, creating something beyond a level 5 is still the main goal of the esper developing program… Misaka hopes these explanations are enough."

She took a long break before continuing.

"I believe that when the general director of the city refers to Suzumiya san as 'the ultimate esper', it's only a way to call her a level 6 without actually using that term directly, as just that would be enough to bring a lot of unwanted attention towards her from the several factions and organizations involved in the level 6 experiments… Misaka states a theory of hers. "

"I see, if Crowley really thinks that Suzumiya san is a level 6, then it's obvious he'd want to keep her near, or at least meet her so he can have an influence on her…"

Koizumi sighed and lowered his shoulder a little.

"…No wonder Motoharu sold this information to him; he must have gotten pretty much anything he wanted out of him."

"He did what?"

Kanzaki san spoke and for some reason she seemed really pissed; now that I think about it she did say she knew that guy when I mentioned him back when we first met.

"Oh yeah, according to Motoharu himself, he was the one that sold off the information about Suzumiya san to Academy City."

Funny, you know I admit I always have trouble reading Koizumi's smile, but the one he has right now has the word 'payback' written all over it… scary.

"I see… I must remember to give him a special punishment next time I see him."

And Kanzaki san cold expression was even scarier; you know stuff like this makes me glad I happen to be on the same side as these people. Anyway, after that sudden death sentence, Kanzaki san turned towards Ichigo san to ask her something.

"Ichigo san there's something I don't get about your explanations, what do you mean when you say 'Someone capable of understanding the will of the heavens'?"

"It means that in order to completely understand things that go beyond human comprehension, one must be something that goes above a human… Misaka explains what SYSTEM means."

"So it's kind of like the Gnosticism from our side, the only difference being the methods… I see, thank you Ichigo san."

She just nodded.

"Anyway, I think we got a little sidetracked… Ichigo san, what about the geography of Academy City? It'd probably come in handy if we know the locations we might be visiting beforehand."

Ichigo san took a second to acknowledge Koizumi's request and quickly searched for a sheet of paper and a pencil, then she gave it to Nagato who sat near the table and almost instantly drew a big circle with several irregular lines that were dividing it in several sectors, each with a number on it; however the thing that called my attention the most was a black square that was near the bottom left part of the circle.

"This is a rough map of Academy City, the city is divided in 23 districts simply known as School Districts, each one of them has an specific function, however since explaining them all would take too much time and most likely be unnecessary, I'll limit myself to the districts we'll most likely be visiting… Misaka explains the layout of the city."

She then pointed at a sector in the upper left.

"This is School district number 3, this is the place where the facilities for authorized outsiders are located, so it's really likely that will be staying at one of the hotels there … Misaka now points two districts down and to the right. This is district 6, it has an amusement park and several other recreational facilities, so chances are will be going there eventually… Misaka moves her finger to the district located three districts to the left. This is district 15 it has several shopping facilities as well as some mass communications ones, so we'll be definitely visit it at some point… Misaka then focuses her attention on the district to the right of that one."

The one she was pointing right now was the sector with the black square.

"This is one is the district where the general director of the city lives, his residence is known as the windowless building, if Suzumiya san is scheduled to meet with him then we'll have to go to this place as the general director never leaves his house… Misaka finishes her explanations of the districts we'll definitely be visiting."

"What about that black square, what is it?"

"That's a place known as the School Garden, that's where the top 5 elite all girls schools are, it's a restricted area where only people affiliated with those schools can enter; it's important to note that students from there can invite other people inside the facilities and Oneesama and her ponytailed partner are currently enrolled in the Tokiwadai middle school which is located inside… Misaka thinks there's a possibility we might get invited."

"I guess that'll depend on whether or not Suzumiya san would like to… ok, I suppose that's enough for today Ichigo san, thanks a lot."

"You're welcome… Misaka follows courtesy procedures."

Ok, now that the info dump is over… "Well then, I guess it's better if we go home for today."

"Yeah, everyone please remember to contact your superiors for assistance…"

Koizumi took an almost imperceptible glance at Asahina san.

"…Listen I know our organizations aren't exactly friendly with each other, but I believe a situation like this means that cooperation is a necessity."

He smiled as he usually does as everyone agreed with him.

"Also we should try to convince Suzumiya san to let us pay our share for the trip or at the very least let us help her with that; like Kyon kun said if we leave her unattended who knows what she might do."

After he said that, we all said our goodbyes and left the clubroom.

**The next day:**

"…So that's pretty much what's going on."

"_I see… of course I'll help you Kyon san, just tell me what I need to do and leave it to me."_

"Thank you Touma, by the way could you try to locate Mikoto san and tell her about this too."

"_Sure no problem, she finally gave me her phone number back on the train last week so I can just send a message to her later."_

"That's wonderful, Haruhi seems to be really attached to her group, so she'll be a great help … Well then, I've to go now; I'll be contacting you later to tell you all the details about the trip."

"_Perfect, talk to you later Kyon san."_

"Bye."

I hung up my phone and looked at the horizon from the rooftop; lunch break was almost over so I had to go back to the classroom but just when I was about to turn around I felt someone covering my eyes with (hopefully) her hands.

"Guess who."

"Asahina san?" Funny I didn't thought she was the kind of girl to do this kind of stuff.

"Correct."

She let go of me, so I turned around to face her and noticed that it was indeed Asahina san... just this was the adult version.

"Hi Kyon kun, how you've been?"

"Fine…" If you ignore the whole part about the trip that could end life as we know it that is "… what can I do for you?"

"Actually this time I came here to tell you to leave things up to me."

"What do you mean?"

"Right now everyone is gathering people to help you in the visit to Academy City right? Well I'm volunteering myself to be the commander of that group."

"Really? Why?"

"Because taking Suzumiya san to Academy City for 3 days without her noticing there's something wrong about that place is impossible, unless…"

"Unless, someone that knew all the details about the trip is helping us; I get that, what I meant is that I thought you weren't allowed to do stuff like that."

"Yep, that's correct, that's why I'm only offering my guidance in this matter, everything else will be done by someone else…"

As she said I noticed someone revealing himself, he was a huge red haired man with a barcode tattooed on his face and a cigarette in his hand.

"Kyon kun, allow me to introduce you to Stiyl Magnus, he's a member of the church of Necessarius and he's going to be assisting me on this mission."

He took a step forward and took a good look at me.

"So this is the one closest to that person, I see… nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Stiyl Magnus huh? For some reason I'm not as intimidated by this guy as I thought I would, must be because he's nowhere near as threatening as the Albino from yesterday.

"Well then…"

As she was speaking the door on the rooftop opened and Kanzaki san entered the place.

"Kyon san, are you here…?"

She stopped talking as she noticed surprised that I had company.

"Stiyl and…"

"Kaori!"

And after she saw her, Asahina san (older) ran to where she was and hugged her.

"Kaori! It's been so long, I missed you!"

Kanzaki san looked at the person hugging her confused.

"Who…"

You know there's something about this scene (most likely the way Asahina san (older) is pressing herself tightly against Kanzaki san chest and it's also kind of rubbing her face to the side of her neck) that just inspires admiration, mainly the wrong kind of admiration. Crap! Why am I remembering the thing Taniguchi asked about yesterday?

Asahina san (older) moved her face closer to Kanzaki san's ear and whispered something.

"Mi… Mikuru…?"

"That´s correct, I made a few unreasonable requests to be able to meet you today and I'm confident that I explained this situation to you recently."

"You did tell me someone from your organization wanted to meet me, but I didn't think it would be… you."

"Strange isn't it?"

"I apologize for interrupting your reunion, but it's getting late and we have to finish this meeting quickly."

"Stiyl, what are you doing here? I thought you were in London taking care of the Archbishop."

"New orders, she sent me here to protect this woman."

"I see..."

The red haired guy took his cigarette out of his mouth and took a good look of Kanzaki san as he blew out some smoke.

"Funny, I never thought I'd see you like this, wearing a uniform and going to school every day like a regular girl your age, I was worried this mission would make you feel uncomfortable but you seem to be fine… maybe even enjoying it a little."

He chuckled a little but Kanzaki san didn't seem to mind his comment.

"That's none of your business, if that's all you have to say then I've to go to class."

"Go to class you say…" he chuckled some more and took a long sip at his cigarette "Actually the reason I'm here is to tell you vital information about the trip that person is going to make, as you can probably guess, our church and this woman organization are cooperating right now, so you're supposed to follow her orders to ensure the whole thing goes well."

Kanzaki san nodded and Asahina san (older) quickly got in front of us.

"Kyon kun, Kaori, please convince everyone to let me take care of this, once you do that tell the people you manage to get help from to go to the Hakumeiza on Wednesday night, it's an abandoned theater in eastern Tokyo that's just about 3 kilometers from Academy City. Once there they'll have to follow Stiyl's instructions to be able to talk with me, I'll be giving them directions through communication talismans; you know I can't show myself to them and using radio communication is unsafe, so the best I can do it's to use him as a proxy."

"Ok."

"Understood."

"Perfect, now we have to go, there're still a few preparations left to do and you guys are late for class, so goodbye."

She and the red haired guy quickly moved towards the door, but before she left Asahina san (older) turned around.

"Also, Kyon kun, I know you don't like the idea and I've to admit I don't like it either, but… please remember to call everyone who could be helpful."

She sighed and went through the door, leaving me and Kanzaki alone in the rooftop.

"Well… that was unexpected."

"Tell me about it, I didn't think I'd ever met Mikuru like this."

"Yeah that surprised me the first time it happened to me too; by the way, that person that was with Asahina san right now, he's from the same church as you isn't he? Can we trust him?"

"Styil? Yeah, don't worry about anything, he's a really capable mage despite his age and if the Archbishop entrusted him the mission of protecting Mikuru then you can be sure nothing bad will happen to her."

"That's great, but… what do you mean with 'despite his age', how old is he?"

"Stiyl is 14."

OK… what the heck? Do the people at your church eat growth hormones for breakfast or something? As if I could ask her that.

"We should go now."

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"By the way Kanzaki san, weren't you looking for me?"

"Oh yeah, Koizumi kun asked me to inform you we're meeting after school to decide what we're going to do about the money problem…"

**Prelude to an invisible war II**

**Academy City, Judgment branch 177:**

It was already quite late in the afternoon when Misaka Mikoto entered the building where her friends worked; she quickly said hi to everyone and took seat as Uiharu served her some tea, however she couldn't even take the first sip of it before she was interrupted.

"Everyone, I have big news!"

Huh? They all turned around and found the last member of their group, Saten Ruiko, she was standing in the doorway panting as it seemed she just ran all the way there.

"Saten san, what's wrong?"

Uiharu brought her a chair for her to sit and a cup of tea that she gulped down in just one sip.

"That hit the right spot, thank you Uiharu!"

"You're welcome Saten san; what's the news you have?"

"Oh yeah, remember Haruhi san, the girl we met when we traveled to that town a couple of weeks back."

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Well, you're not going to believe this but, apparently she got invited to meet the city by the general director himself, so she and the rest of her brigade are coming here for 3 days next week."

As she said that both Uiharu and Kuroko looked at her surprised, while Mikoto remained quiet for some reason.

"Saten san, are you sure about that? I've never heard of something like that happening before."

"Yeah, I talked to her yesterday and she confirmed it, I thought she was kidding at first but then she sent me a mail she got from him and it's as legit as it can be, he even invited her to meet him in person."

"No way! That makes no sense, not even Oneesama has met him and she's a level 5."

"Eh! Really? It's that true Misaka san?"

Meanwhile Mikoto was lost in thought, she already knew Haruhi san was coming to the city since he had sent her a mail during lunch break explaining the situation and asking for her help; she didn't believe him at first but if Saten san had the same story then that meant it was true and so were her suspicions about her.

The thing is that if someone as important as the general director wanted to meet her for no apparent reason what so ever, then everything Koizumi san and the rest said last week made sense, Suzumiya san was… a level 6; it's unbelievable! she had experienced so much pain because that, so many of her SISTERS murdered by that monster just because a bunch of scientist wanted a level 6 badly, but couldn't be bothered to check if one just happened to live nearby! The whole thing was so ironic it made her want to cry.

"Hey, earth to Misaka san! Are you ok?"

Mikoto snapped back to earth as she noticed everyone was looking at her.

"Yeah, sorry… what was it again?"

"I was asking if it's true you've never met the general director."

"No I haven't, but I think daddy has met him a few times though."

Saten and the rest looked at her with amazement.

"I see… Misaka san's father must be a really important person then."

Mikoto sweat dropped a little.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that; anyway what are we going to do about Haruhi san? Are we going to have a party or something?"

Saten then moved back and made a grin as she grabbed her chin with her hand.

"Of course we are, also we have to show her some of the best tourist spots of the city since she was so helpful with us, although she did say she's going to have a tour guide so maybe that's unneeded; and we need to plan how we are going to tell her about the esper development program; man I felt so bad lying to her last time, I can't wait to tell her the truth about us!"

"I bet she's going to be really happy when we do!"

Saten and Uiharu chuckled as they made their plans, Mikoto however couldn't help but remember a few things Koizumi san mentioned last week:

"…_Her powers are highly unstable and she could easily change this universe for another one if she ever gets bored or depressed enough…"_

"…_They can't reveal their identity to her, since that would cause her to accept their existence as a natural thing and therefore become boring…"_

And while she wasn't completely sure about what he meant with that, it was pretty obvious telling Haruhi san about espers wasn't a good idea.

"Are you sure we can? I mean it's not like she's a student here."

Both her friends turned around completely caught off guard with that question.

"Well, I think that if the general director of the city invited her then he probably wants to offer her a scholarship or something, so it should be ok I guess…"

"But then that means her parents haven't signed the N.D.A. or anything so we can't tell her… right Konori senpai?"

She tried to get help from the chief of the branch they were in, Konori Mii, she had been listening to their conversation from afar while she finished some paperwork.

"Misaka san is correct, if she's not an student here we technically can't say anything to her; not that it matters, if someone's coming here for 3 days then she'll find out sooner or later and there's nothing in the rules against that."

Once she got her senpai's help, it was time to use that momentum to put her plan in motion.

"Not to mention, I don't think she would like if we just told her outright, it'd be better if she finds out on her own and then we explain everything; kind of like a surprise party."

Saten seemed to consider the idea for a while before nodding happily.

"Understood, you're right Misaka san, it's more exciting that way!"

Mikoto nodded back at her with a smile on her face.

"Of course! We just have to remain quiet until she finds out, I suppose that means that if she doesn't then we can't tell her anything, but that's impossible anyway."

Her friends nodded and she breathed a sigh of relief as her plan had worked; she still wasn't sure about all the details or how were they going to stop her from seeing anything; but at the very least she was going to keep her promise.

Suddenly Saten made a weird grin.

"By the way Misaka san… Haruhi san also told me something interesting about you."

Her words caught Mikoto completely off guard, so all she could do was blush red like a tomato.

"Don't tell me she told you…"

"Yep, I know everything."

"I can explain, what happened was that I…"

"Seriously, why didn't you tell us you had an identical twin sister? Or that she's a child genius that goes to the same high school as Haruhi san and it´s even a part of her brigade? No wonder you wanted to go to that town so badly, you should've introduced her to us. "

So she meant that, Mikoto breathed another sigh of relief as she honestly thought she was talking about the little scene she made last week, thank god!

"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Oneesama has a twin sister? How come you've never mentioned that?"

Kuroko was looking at her with tears all over her eyes, she has always considered herself Mikoto's confidant, her best friend she could trust and tell everything she wanted, but she hid the fact that she had a sister and not just any kind of sister, but an identical twin for so long without her noticing, in a sense she felt a little betrayed.

"Yeah… her name is Ichigo chan and I couldn't introduce you to her because… because… I was just checking the place she was going to live before she moved in so it was impossible and I didn't mention her because I was embarrassed you'd think of me as an overprotective big sister."

She finished her improvised explanation and noticed her friends looked convinced and Kuroko's tears slowly changed from sadness to admiration.

"Oneesama, to be worried about your sister so much… And to think I misunderstood you and thought you dragged us there to meet that barbarian, but it was for such a noble cause… I'm so ashamed of myself!"

"Eh, yeah… don't worry about that, it's partly my fault for not explaining myself properly; by the way I suppose I shouldn't have to mention this, but she's off limits, she's a normal girl and I don't want you to take advantage of that."

"Don' worry about that Oneesama, even if she looks just like you, I'd never do something inappropriate to your precious little sister, I'll keep my hands off her and on you."

Mikoto sighed "That's no good either, but I guess there's no helping it."

"Great! That´s settled then, now everyone, we have a party to prepare!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

"You´re late Kyon!"

It was the Sunday before the trip and we were all gathered in the usual spot for one reason.

"Man I can't believe this, we´re going to help you get the money for your trip, I even let you off our training today and you still have the nerve to be late."

The plan we came up during our meeting the other day was simple, since Haruhi really wanted to help us getting money for the trip, we decided it would be a bad idea to just solve everything by ourselves, so while the rest of the brigade convinced her to let them pay their share, I'm supposed to let her assist me with that.

"We wouldn´t have to do this if you didn´t destroyed my finances two Sundays in a row remember?"

Which is great for me since I'm still recovering from paying Index san's lunch a couple of weeks ago, not like the idea of owing Haruhi money is attractive in the slightest, but it's better than bankruptcy at the very least.

"Well that should teach you about being late!"

Sigh… "Whatever, so have you thought about how to get 40.000¥ in just one day already?"

Although judging by the how she looks so confident, that question is probably unnecessary.

"Of course, is pretty simple really, we´re going to earn it the old fashioned way… working!"

Huh… that´s it? No garage sale filled with crap that some crazy collector thinks it´s art and pays millions for, or stocks investments that get us tons of money but create a worldwide depression or anything?

"Yeah, I know that it´s weird for me to relay on such conventional methods, I was originally planning to do something a little more radical, but Kaori neesan convinced me I shouldn't do everything by myself and that we should solve this problem together."

"Of course Haruhi san! You can always rely on me, I wouldn´t be worthy of being called your sister if I couldn't do at least that much."

Kanzaki san seemed extremely proud when she said that, I suppose that if she really thinks Haruhi is her God, being considered a sister by her must be a huge deal.

"Thank you Kaori neesan! Well then… we get paid by the hour so there's no time to waste, let's go!"

"Where? You haven't told us what we are going to do yet."

"Oh yeah, We´ll be working at the café we always go to, I talked to the owner and he told me all his staff needed to take today off urgently for some reason, so I offered our services for minimum wage and a waitress uniform for Mikuru chan!"

Good to see she still got her priorities straight, still… Kanzaki san and Asahina san wearing waitress uniforms, I can't…

"Move it Kyon! We´ll leave you behind if you don´t!"

Huh? Suddenly I noticed everyone had already left.

"Hey, wait for me!"

**About half an hour later:**

After arriving at the café the owner quickly gave us a short speech and our uniforms for us to change, apparently he was going to take the day off as well so we had to run the whole place by ourselves… I don't get it, how can anyone be so carefree about his business? It makes no sense!

Anyway, I quickly got into the dressing room to change myself and noticed a familiar tune coming from the room besides this one.

"Why do these skirts have to be so short? It feels like everyone can see my…"

"Come on Mikuru chan, stop moving around so much, I can't dress you properly if you don't stay still!"

"Suzumiya san stop, I can do it by myself!"

It's been a while since I last heard that.

"Haruhi san, please calm down, I'm sure Mikuru would be more cooperative if you were a little nicer to her."

"Ok ok Kaori neesan, I'll try to be gentler. Mikuru chan, button up the rest of your shirt while I take care of everything below ok?"

"Yeah…"

Oh well… I suppose that´s an improvement at least.

I got out of the room when I finished and found Ichigo san and Nagato already dressed in their uniforms; I have to admit they both look quite lovely on it as it makes then even cuter than they already are.

"Ready for work girls?"

"Yeah, Yuki already uploaded the data about running a café into the network, so this should be no trouble at all… Misaka says confident."

"I see we're counting on you then."

Both girls nodded as the door of the women's dressing room opened and Haruhi together with 'the two angels' as Taniguchi calls them appeared… god they look amazing with their uniforms on, seriously is stuff like this that make me grateful of all the crazy things that happen in my life… if only their skirts were as short as Kanzaki san made them out to be.

"Kyon! Snap out of it already, we have work to do!"

"Oh yeah sorry…"

I turned my attention towards Haruhi who was staring at me angrily as usual; still taking a good look at her I must admit that she looks just as stunning as everyone else, have to give credit where is rightly deserved.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing…"

Before opening the café, Haruhi gathered the brigade to assign everyone a role for the whole day.

"Ok guys, this the plan: Yuki you'll be in charge of the kitchen and Ichigo chan will help you, Koizumi kun you'll take care of the customers on the bar of the café, Kaori neesan, Mikuru chan you'll be the waitresses and I'll be at the cash register. "

"What about me?"

"Oh yeah sorry Kyon, you're going to be the utility man, so it's your job to help with anything I ask you to do."

So basically I get to be ordered around by her all day; that´s no different of what I usually do, somehow this doesn't even feel like work anymore… hurray! Oh who am I kidding? Let's just get on with it.

**Noon:**

"Kyon go clean up table 5!"

"Right away!"

"Kyon someone spilled a drink near the entrance, clean it up!"

"I'm on it!"

"Kyon go check if the men's bathroom has enough supplies!"

And so our wonderful day taking care of the café started with me being exploited for minimum wage, which is actually an improvement because I'm actually getting paid for this… anyway the place was unusually crowded today since the rumors of the new waitresses spread like wildfire and everyone came to take a look.

"Kyon go take this order to the idiot on table 2."

"Me again? Isn't that a job for the waitresses?"

"Kaori neesan has her hands full with her tables and Mikuru chan is taking pictures with the customers on table 7."

"What?"

"Well, a lot of customers were demanding to take pictures with the cute waitresses and making a huge fuss, so I tried to scared them off by charging them an arm and a leg for it, but the whole thing surprisingly backfired and they actually paid me double I asked… so I figured out I might as well take the chance and run a little business on the side, you know what they say ´Capitalism, Ho! ´"

Just who the heck says that?

"Don't worry I talked to them and they said it's ok, not to mention they're just normal pictures like the ones you'd take in an amusement park, I'd never let anyone take embarrassing pictures of my neesan or…"

Immediately she took a ballpoint pen and threw it with perfect precision towards the back of the restaurant hitting a customer in the arm, making him drop a camera he was trying to sneak below the table closest to Asahina san.

"For the last time! Underskirt pictures are **NOT **allowed! You try that again and I'll kick you out!"

The guy quickly picked up his camera and placed back into his bag, understandably scared of the little death threat he just got.

"Man these people are so annoying! This is like the 5th time something like that happens."

I'm guessing embarrassing pictures are only good if she takes them… still I can't help but think this is an improvement and that she's not as crazy as before; it seemed Kanzaki san being her role model was really starting to show, else Asahina san would be working on her bunny suit costume by now.

"Anyway… what was I saying? Oh Yeah! Kyon take this order to the idiot on table 2."

"Understood!"

Well, time to take another cup of coffee to 'the idiot on table 2'.

"Here you go Taniguchi, cup number 9."

"What? You again Kyon? I don't get it, how many of these things I have to ask to get Kaori chan or Asahina san to bring it to me? Suzumiya said you can only take pictures with the waitress that serves your table and no offence but you're not what I had in mind."

None taken, anyway he looked at Haruhi with anger who answered him by sticking out her tongue.

"Mmmm! You're 100 cups too early before I let my neesan anywhere near you!"

What's with her being so overprotective all of the sudden?

"Well you heard her Kyon… keep them coming, there's still 81 cups left to go!"

It's 91 actually… Idiot!

"Kyon take care of the customers that just arrived!"

Why does it feel like I'm only one working in this place? Anyway I grabbed a couple of menus and quickly moved towards the entrance.

"Welcome, would you prefer a table or to sit on the bar?"

I looked at the customers in front of me; one was a guy with pitch black hair and an oversized shirt while the other one was a cute girl with short purple hair.

"We'll take a table thank you."

"Understood…"

"Kyon san!"

Huh? I turned around and noticed Kanzaki san was right behind me.

"I'll take care of these customers."

"Sure as you wish."

"Thank you."

She quickly guided them towards one of the tables she was serving and immediately after that the door's bell rang again and I turned around to greet the new… oh god not them!

"Hi Kyon kun, I didn't know you guys had jobs here."

"Good morning Tsuruya san, we're currently helping the owner of this place since he had to take the day off."

"I see that's wonderful, by the way allow me to introduce you to my new friends."

Of course she wasn't alone, together with her was not only the girl with the Japanese priestess outfit, but also another girl that I haven't seen before, if I had to describe her I'd say she was pretty but for some reason I can't quite point out lacked sex appeal.

"Himechii, Seichan this is the guy I was talking about the other day."

"Himegami Aisa."

"And I'm Fukiyose Seiri, it's a pleasure."

Both girl bowed politely.

"Same here I'm…"

"Kyon stop chitchatting and get back to work already!"

Sigh… "Kyon'll do, anyway would you girls prefer a table or to sit in the bar?"

"A table please."

"Understood, please follow me."

I quickly guided them towards the nearest empty table and helped them sit.

"Well here's the menu and…"

"I want hamburgers."

"And I want smoked cheese!"

"Just a health drink please, I'm not hungry."

That was fast.

"Excellent, I'll bring them right away."

Oh well, time to go to the kitchen to place the order.

"Give me as much hamburgers and smoked cheese as you can please!"

I just got a nod of acknowledgement and didn't even have to wait 30 seconds before I had a tray with a couple of perfectly grilled hamburgers and a plate with several blocks of smoked cheese decorated with the utmost attention to detail; the whole thing looks so magnificent it's like it belongs on a 5 star restaurant.

"Sorry I forgot I need a health drink too."

Another nod and 4 seconds later I had a glass with the right amount of ice, a piece of lemon that was just the perfect size and a little umbrella on top of it, besides a bottle of a weird and expensive looking health drink I've never seen before; the thing looks so professional you'd think I'm serving some exotic cocktail.

"Thanks you two, keep up the good work!"

And there goes the third nod of 'you're welcome', you know I must admit at first I thought it was a bad idea to have Ichigo san helping out on the kitchen, I mean we could definitely use another waitress and Nagato can take care of this place by herself (actually I think she's slowing down so Ichigo san can keep up with her), but now that I see those two working together I can't help but think that they're actually enjoying this.

Ok, now to take this order… funny once I got near the table I couldn't help but notice the atmosphere there was a little tense.

"There you go girls."

"Thank you."

Only Fukiyose san answered me, the other two were just staring intently at each other.

"Could you girls drop that already? Who cares which is tastier between hamburgers and smoked cheese? Just let it go!"

Complete silence, they didn't even give signs of acknowledging what she just said.

"You know, if it bothers you that much, why don't you just do this?"

She quickly grabbed some of the cheese from Tsuruya san's plate and placed it on Himegami san's hamburgers; as soon as she did that the stare between the girls was broken as they slowly moved to grab one of the burgers each and reluctantly gave it a bite.

"Genius."

"Seichan you're so smart!"

"I'm not! Now come on, eat up before they get cold."

The girls were happy to oblige as Fukiyose san took a long sip at her drink, good to see there's someone normal on that group.

"Kyon go check if the women's bathroom has enough supplies!"

"Right a… you do that!"

**A few hours later:**

It was almost time to close down the place and I finally managed to take a break thanks to the slave driver being in the bathroom, so I sat in the bar because it was empty compared to the rest of the café.

"How is it going Kyon kun."

"Well… I'm nowhere near as tired as I thought I would be, but still the whole day has been pretty busy with so many customers and Haruhi yelling at me every 5 seconds."

"I see, I was the complete opposite, the bar was really easy to handle, most customers preferred a table and the ones that sat here were pretty nice."

I can see why they would prefer a table…

"Could I get another cup of English tea and the check please?"

"Right away sir!"

The customer asking Koizumi for tea was the only other person sitting on the bar right now, he was a really large man with brown hair and blue clothes, he kind of looks like a foreigner, but it's hard to say since he's wearing a hat that makes difficult to see his face.

"She's quite a hard boss to please isn't she? That ribbon wearing girl."

Once he noticed I was looking at him he tried to start a conversation.

"Yeah I guess so, nothing I can't handle though."

"I see that's pretty impressive, it's rare to see such a hard working young man in this age."

"Actually I don't work here, I'm just filling in for someone today; the thing is that I'm kind of used to having her ordering me around."

"Used to? Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Huh, does it really look like that on the outside?

"Oh sorry, that was pretty rude of me asking such personal things to someone I just met."

"No not at all, I was just surprised at your question; but nope, she's not my girlfriend, we're just friends I guess."

"I see, she does have this certain aura around her, so I can see why you'd want to follow her…"

"Huh? What do you mean sir?" Funny I think I've heard someone saying something like that before.

"Never mind me; please forget I said anything… Anyway sorry to distract you from your work, I'm sure you're busy and have better things to do than to talk to a curious customer."

"Not at all Mr.…"

"I'm William Orwell, nice to meet you."

"I see Mr. Orwell, nice to meet you too, I'm… "

"Kyon go take the idiot on table 2 his check, tell him we're about to close."

Sigh…

"You should do what your boss says; I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of me."

"Yeah sorry."

Anyway I picked up the little plate with the check on it and took it to the idiot on table 2.

"There you go Taniguchi; we're going to close down soon so I need you to pay up."

"What? That's not fair! There were only 3 cups left, come on Kyon you can't do this to me!"

You know for some reason I'm feeling compassionate today.

"Ok, but you owe me one… Kanzaki san, could you do me a favor please?"

She turned around when she heard me as she was cleaning up the table right besides this one.

"Yeah sure Kyon san, what is it?"

"Could you please take this check and place it on this table?"

She looked at me understandably confused with my request.

"Eh... sure!"

She picked up the little plate I had in my hands and placed it right in front of Taniguchi.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, sorry to bother you with something so strange all of the sudden."

"Never mind that, by the way could you please tell Haruhi san that I need to take a break after I finish with table 3? I'll be going out for a little while."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

She made a little bow and went back to her duties.

"So Taniguchi, are you happy now?"

Why am I asking that? The guy is practically crying of happiness.

"Thank you Kyon!"

Then he looked at the check.

"I'm going to have to eat cup noodles for lunch during the next 2 weeks, I don't even have money for the pictures anymore… but it was still worth every penny."

Isn't he the saddest person you've ever seen?

"Kyon go take out the garbage!"

I'm so going to have nightmares about this later on.

"Right away! By the way Kanzaki san told me to tell you she's going to take a little break after she finishes with the table she's on right now."

"Sure no problem, we're about to close anyway."

"Can I take one too?"

"No!"

It was worth a try, oh well off to get the garbage, I'm supposed to throw it out on a place near the back of the building so I had to go out the back door and walk along a little corridor to find the container that was right at the end to the left.

"There… done!"

Well now that's taken care of, time to go back and wash my hands like crazy…

"Man, I've never expected to see the former Supreme Pontiff dressed like this."

"Shut up!"

Huh? Kanzaki san?

"I've even got this picture to prove it; I can't wait to show this to everyone else…"

I heard the sound of paper being ripped to shreds followed by a flash of light and the faint smell of something being burned.

"Hey! That thing cost more than the food we ate!"

"I don't care! If you have time to worry about that, then just tell me the info you got for me and go away already!"

"Ok sorry! Didn't think you'd get so sensitive over that… Anyway it seems the Roman Catholic Church found out about our 'Goddess' already and we have no idea about what they're planning to do about her, so you need to be extremely careful from now on."

"Tsk... Well it was bound to happen eventually so I guess there's no helping it."

"Yeah I suppose you're right… "

It seems that she's talking to someone, oh well it doesn't look like she's in trouble and this doesn't sound like something I should be listening to, so I think it's better if I just…

"Who are you?"

Unfortunately my plan to just leave the scene was interrupted when I felt a cold metallic blade getting dangerously close to the side of my neck.

"Huh? What's wrong Itsuwa? Did you find something?"

Immediately after two persons appeared in front of me, one of them was obviously Kanzaki san and together with her was one of the customers we had this afternoon, the guy with the oversized shirt.

"This person was eavesdropping on us."

"Hey! I wasn't eavesdropping; I was just…"

Ok I'll be quiet, no need to bring that blade even closer to my neck.

"What should I do with him?"

Kanzaki san sighed and then smiled a little "You let him go, I doubt he did it on purpose and if you hurt that person even just a little bit, you might as well be dooming us all."

"Huh?" the girl holding the blade (which was part of a spear) got closer so she could look at my face, that was when I noticed she was the purple haired girl that was with the guy with the oversized shirt back in the afternoon.

"You're that person's…"

For some reason when she saw my face she got really surprised and pulled back the spear she was holding.

"I'm really sorry for my rudeness, please forgive me."

Then she bowed apologizing and I could do nothing but to look at her not sure about how should I react.

"So this is the one who is the closest to her? He looks kind of plain doesn't he?"

The man with the oversized shirt laughed… wait a minute, what's with the whole 'the one closest' business, it's the same thing that red haired guy was saying the other day.

"Anyway Kyon san, what are you doing here?"

"Well Kanzaki san you see, Haruhi told me to take off the garbage so I did and then when I was coming back I found you guys; I swear I didn't mean to spy on you."

"I see… Well I guess there's no helping it, Kyon san these are two of my colleagues from the Amakusa Catholics."

The girl with the purple hair got besides his partner and introduced herself.

"I'm Itsuwa, sorry about the confusion."

She bowed once again.

"Never mind, it was partly my fault too."

"Tatemiya Saiji, nice to meet you."

"Same here I'm…"

…

"What's wrong?"

"Eh... nothing sorry, like I was saying I'm…"

"Kyon, what the heck is taking you so long? Get back here already!"

Sigh… "Just call me Kyon."

Tatemiya san chuckled before changing back to a serious face.

"Ok, I better make this quick then, the other thing that I needed to tell you was that your request for back up was accepted; we are to follow that woman's instructions and assist you during the trip in any way we can."

"I see… I'm counting on you then."

Funny, she doesn't seem too thrilled with the idea.

"Well we better get going Kyon san, Haruhi san is waiting for us."

"Yeah."

She tried to lead me back into the shop.

"There is one last thing we need to ask you."

Tatemiya san talked to her and she stopped as soon she heard him.

"What is it?"

"We want you to tell us what you think of her, do you really believe she's God? I know that as a Church our official position is that she is, but we wanted to know your opinion about this whole thing."

Kanzaki san sighed and turned around to look at them directly.

"That… is a difficult question… If you're asking me to show you something that proves that she's God without a shadow of a doubt then I can't, I don't have something like that, but… I would like to believe that she is, I can't really explain why but I just can sense this certain aura around her that's sublime and magnificent and I can't help but feel attracted to it, to have faith on her…"

She took a long pause, probably to order his thoughts.

"Look at the very least I can tell you this: Haruhi san is a really special person that must be kept away from the darkness of this world at all cost, everything would be at risk if we didn't and… she deserves to have nice life."

Wow, it seems those two are taking their sisterhood far more seriously than I thought at first, wonderful!

Tatemiya san nodded and smiled at her.

"I see, well if the former Supreme Pontiff of our church accepts her then I see no reason for us not to, still I'm surprised, you seem to be enjoying her company far more than I thought you would."

Kanzaki san then looked away from them and spoke with a voice that was melancholic but with a faint hint of happiness to it "Maybe you're right…"

The she took a long breath and stretched herself a little.

"Well I got to go now, let go Kyon san."

"Yeah."

We quickly waved goodbye and returned to the café, once there I noticed all the customers had already left and the only people inside was the brigade and the owner who had came back to collect the earnings and close the place, either way before we knew it we were outside the café waiting for Haruhi to report the results of today so we could go home.

"Everyone mission accomplished, we managed to collect nearly 48.000¥ by working today and since we established an in store record for most customers in one day, the owner decided to give us Mikuru chan's uniform for an special super cheap prize!"

Hurray.

"And that's not the best part either, thanks to our little photo shoot business we managed to collect an additional 600.000¥, now we have enough money to pay for everyone's trip and to fund the brigade for years to come!"

So let me see if I get this straight, all of us working honestly during the whole day barely earned our goal, but Kanzaki san and Asahina san taking overpriced pictures in waitress uniforms with random strangers managed to make 15 times that amount during the same time… The moral of this story sucks!

"Well, I'm sure you're all tired from working today, so we better go home to get some rest, we deserve it."

We said our goodbyes and were ready to leave.

"See you at school everyone! Oh and Kyon remember we have training tomorrow!"

What? Give me a break would you!

Anyway after that, everyone went home and I was planning to do the same, but as I was beginning to walk I felt someone placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Kyon kun."

"What is it Koizumi?"

He got close to me as usual and put on his serious face.

"I was wondering if you had called everyone who could be helpful during the trip?"

Great, first was Asahina san (older) and now him.

"Yeah sure, I called Touma and he told me he was going to contact Mikoto san too, I told you that."

"I know but I thought there's someone else you could call…"

"I have no idea of who you're talking about."

Stop staring at me dude…

"Come on Koizumi, do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Do I really, really, really have to?"

"Yes you have to; actually it'd be best if you made the call now."

"But it's quite late right now so…"

"I don't think that's going to be a problem."

He just stared at me and smiled…

"Ok ok, I'll make the call."

Oh well, it's not like I'm going to get charged for it anyway; I quickly grabbed my phone and pressed a key at random (it doesn't really matter which, the number I'm calling is speed dial in all of them) and then almost immediately I heard someone picking up on the other side.

"_Hello~!"_

"Hello… Shizuri?"

**Prelude to an invisible war III**

**Academy City, ****JosePh'S Coffee and Restaurant:**

"But I don't get it Mugino, why do we have to cancel our mission? I know you don't like that we're supposed to cooperate with that guy, but the pay is great and it's just a kidnapping so it should be easy."

Currently team ITEM was having a discussion about their next assignment.

"Yeah Frenda, that's what I thought until I saw just who are we supposed to kidnap."

"What do you mean?"

Mugino searched in her purse and pulled out a little hand book.

"Take a look."

Frenda quickly grabbed the book and looked at the first page.

"But… this makes no sense!"

She showed the book to her coworkers who were just as surprised to see who their target was.

"Her? What's with that girl that just keeps popping out in our missions?"

"She's a level 6."

As Mugino bluntly said that all of her partners became quiet and looked at her like she was crazy.

"What… What are you talking about Mugino?"

"Well I'm not sure if she is a level 6 exactly, but at the very least she's someone so powerful that the people on top think that she is."

"What makes you say that?"

"Don't you think its suspicious Kinuhata? first we get that weird mission to make that other guy touch her, usually no one would ask for such a silly thing, but we got a huge pay, all of our expenses covered and they even got us that guy from Skill Out to help us with anything we needed remember him?"

"Yeah sure, the one that fell for Takitsubo I remember him."

"And now someone else asked us to kidnap her for yet another huge pile of money, since apparently she was invited to the city by the general director himself… hell I'm a level 5 and I've never met the guy, why would a random girl from some backwater town receive such an invitation? It makes no sense!"

"I see, I suppose that means she's important somehow… but I still don't see why you'd think she's a level 6."

Mugino took a little break to take a little sip of her drink, she had considered telling them about what happened in the closed space, but she concluded that they probably wouldn't believe her so it was best to try another approach.

"Well, this is something I didn't told you girls back then, but remember when I ambushed that girl at the top of that building?"

"Yeah, what about that?"

"The thing is that in order to make the guy touch her I used one of my silicon cards to fire several beams at her."

"But you weren't supposed to attack her directly!"

"Yeah, but I aimed carefully plus it's not like the mission said she had to be alive when they touched anyway."

Saiai sweat dropped a little.

"Don't worry about it, I could have shot directly at her all I wanted and it wouldn't have mattered at that point."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You see, the thing is that every single beam I fired at her… was a blank."

"I didn't know you could shoot blanks."

"That's the problem… I can't! Best thing I can do that's not harmful is that stupid trick that I used to scare the nun's cat, yet for some reason every single beam I fired at her in that moment was a blank."

"So you're saying she canceled your powers… but then if she's really a level 6 why she didn't just defeat you or at least fought back."

"Because I don't think she knows, you see when I told her the reason why I was attacking her, it was so ridiculous she believed the whole thing was just a play her friends had set up for her and the next time I shot at her my atom breaker got turned into a pathetic magic trick, quite a coincidence don't you think?"

All of her partners looked at her in disbelief, I mean what she said made no sense but why would she lie about that?

"And that's not the only thing either, there's another story that I heard from my 'informant' recently."

There was a tiny blush on her face when she said the word 'informant'.

"What is it?"

"It seems our girl got a visit from number 1 last week."

"What! And she is still alive?"

"Not only she's perfectly fine, it seems he was a little rude with her and she scolded him by hitting him right on the tip of his nose."

"Ok, now I really don't believe you, she managed to hit that guy?"

"Yep."

"And he didn't kill her?"

"We wouldn't get a request to kidnap a corpse."

There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to digest the information they just got, however Mugino still wasn't finished.

"Besides that there is another reason I believe we should cancel this mission, look at the next page of the briefing, the part that talks about possible threats."

Frenda quickly did as she was told.

"Huh! What the hell is this? 'She might be accompanied by 6 of her friends, however these people are just regular humans and pose no threat'… are you freaking kidding me? My neck still feels a little sore in the mornings and I got that one from the moeblob!"

"Yep, apparently our client this time is either completely clueless or doesn't care if we all get killed, judging by how they also hired that bastard to cooperate with us on such an 'easy mission' I'd say it's the latter; but neither is the kind of people I like to work for."

There was silence again and it seemed to give a silent approval to Mugino's proposal.

"Unbelievable, and to think that if it wasn't for that mission the other day we could be blindly charging to our deaths."

"Yes Frenda, a lot of wonderful things came out from that mission…"

Once again a little blush appeared on Mugino's face as Saiai made an almost unnoticeable chuckle.

"Well, then I guess we'll be skipping this mission, no big deal, now we have the whole weekend to ourselves, super!"

"Actually Kinuhata, yesterday I got a proposal for another mission related to this one, the pay it's not as good but I think we should take it."

"Huh? What is it about?"

"Well, basically we have to join forces with a coalition that's gathering to protect that girl and prevent her from seeing anything esper related during her visit."

"What? Are you crazy? That's impossible!"

"Not at all, apparently there's someone among the people we're going to cooperate with that knows a way to do it and I also thought we could keep the façade and spy on that bastard to make our job easier, plus even if we fail I'll still pay you girls so there's no downside to it."

"No downside! We'd have to fight with him at the very least and if she's as important as you said the entire dark side could be going after her too; not to mention it's one thing to cancel a mission, but if we betray our client so openly we might as well be asking for them to put a price on our heads!"

"Yeah, we'll need to lay low for a while after this and I'd much rather fight against that narcissist bastard than to mess with a level 6 thank you; think about it if we succeed we could be gaining the favors of the most powerful person in the universe."

Saiai looked at Mugino directly in the eyes before sighing.

"Oh well, I'm not particularly thrilled with this idea, but you're the boss."

"Great, what about you Frenda, Takitsubo?"

Rikou only raised her head a little bit and nodded. "Ok."

"Sure Mugino, I'll do as you say."

Mugino gave herself a satisfied nod.

"Well then, we're supposed to meet with the people we'll be cooperating with on Wednesday night in an abandoned theater on eastern Tokyo and the meeting with the bastard is in the morning, so we have time to prepare until then; now if you excuse me, I need to do some emergency shopping."

"Want us to go with you?"

"No, it's nothing serious; I just need to buy some personal stuff."

"If it is about 'hygiene products' I could lend you some of mine if you need."

"No Frenda, I have enough 'hygiene products' for now thank you!"

She blushed a little before clearing her throat.

"Like I said it's nothing serious, I'm just going to the Seventh Mist for a little while and then back home."

"Ok fine…"

Frenda stood up so Mugino could leave.

"Bye girls, see you later."

"Bye."

She quickly said her goodbyes and left as fast as she could.

"So… who was her and what did she do with Mugino?"

"Huh? What do you mean Kinuhata?"

"Oh come on Frenda! Don't tell me you didn't notice there was something weird about her?"

"Like what?"

"Like the way she was so insistent on taking that other mission, I mean yeah betraying the dark side of Academy City all at once is such a good idea; if she really were so cautious about this we should remain neutral and then join the winning side… and come on! As if Mugino is going to cancel a mission just because she'll be fighting someone who might be stronger than her!"

Frenda gulped. "Yeah you're right, that doesn't sound like Mugino all that much."

"Well people do act out of character when they're in love."

"What! Mugino is… impossible!"

"Explain to me then why did she blushed when she was talking about her 'informant'… actually since when does she even has an informant on that town?"

"But…"

"And the thing she said earlier 'a lot of wonderful things came out from that mission…' with a little blush on her face, I almost couldn't hold back and laugh at her face when she said something so corny."

Saiai chuckled as Frenda was astonished witht that revelation.

"But, But, But… How? Why? When? Who?"

"Well 'How' and 'Why' I can't tell, but I believe we can be sure it was during the mission on that town, she has been acting weird ever since we finished it; remember the whole 'business' she had to take care of?"

"Yeah, I thought that was weird too…"

"And since she was fine before splitting up on that day, I think we can be sure that the 'who' is one of the guys that were with her on that building."

They took a few seconds to think.

"I'm guessing it was that bishonen esper from that other organization, that guy is hot."

"Nah, I'd say it was the other one with the spiky hair, he might not look like much but he just has that 'something' that would make any girl go crazy for him."

"Nope, it was the guy that bumped into her before."

Huh? Both girls turned around as they heard Rikou entering their conversation for the first time.

"Come on, as if she's going to fall for such a boring looking guy."

They both chuckled for a while.

"Yeah, I mean that guy looks so useless, there's no way Mugino would like him."

"But she had a picture with him on her cell phone and they looked like they were on a date together."

And then… silence.

"I can't believe it…"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, I noticed it the other day, it's her wallpaper."

"But… why didn't you say anything before?"

Rikou just raised her shoulders and didn't answer.

"You know that does explain that other thing I thought was weird."

"What is it Kinuhata?"

"Remember when we were at the hot springs and I was trying to tease Takitsubo about her new boyfriend being a level 0 and Mugino said something along the lines of 'a non esper is fine too'? "

"Yeah, I thought she was just trying to be nice."

"Me too, but if we take into account that he's the only guy without any kind of ability on our list, then everything makes perfect sense."

There was silence again on the table and it was only a few minutes later when Frenda snapped out of it angrily.

"I can't believe this! If I had known this was going to happen I'd never would've proposed that mission, we would have been way better off taking the one to stop the assassination of Director Oyafune."

"Nah, I had a bad feeling about that one and I heard it was canceled at the last second anyway."

"Argh! That's it! I'm not participating in this mission."

"Come on Frenda, that won't stop Mugino at all and... aren't you a little curious?"

"About what!"

"About the guy that made Mugino fall for him so badly in 10 minutes, not to mention there's something else that's been bothering me, remember she said that even if we failed she would still pay us?"

"Yeah…"

"Why would she pay us? The client is the one supposed to do that."

"Then… wait a minute you don't mean?"

"Exactly, we both know that Mugino is not exactly in this business for the money, but she's also not the kind of person to do something for free either; so if she's willing to pay the mission herself then that means..."

"That she is getting something better than money for it."

**Later that day in North high:**

It was already after school and I was wasting my time as usual playing games with Koizumi.

'_Wedding march'_

"Kyon pick up the… what's with that ring tone?"

"Eh… remember I lost my phone recently, when I got it back that song was set on it and for some reason I can't change it back."

What? Technically I'm not lying.

"That's weird… but oh well I guess it doesn't matter."

After saying that she went back to the computer.

"Hey Kaori neesan, I was looking at some costumes for Mikuru chan to get with the money we earned yesterday and I think I found a perfect one for you… it's the Fallen-Angel Ero-maid+alpha costume, what do you think?"

Kanzaki san took a good look at the screen and blushed.

"Haruhi san… I would never wear something like that, **never!**"

"I see, its a shame I think it'd look great on you… well then I guess I'll just settle for the Great Elemental Spirit/peep-maid costume for Mikuru chan and call it a day."

You know for some reason I don't think our extra funds are going to last… oh well let's see what the psycho girl wants, I mean last night she _'Glare'_ me into talking with her for 3 hours (don't ask how that works over the phone, it just does) so I don't know what could it be.

"_Kyon darling how are you? I just wanted to tell you I managed to convince my subordinates and that we will be helping you when you come here, by the way today I went to do some lingerie shopping in preparation for your visit and __since we haven't seen each other in so long_ I decided to send you the pictures of me wearing the models I didn't choose… if you want to see the one I did buy then I'll gladly wear it for you when it's time to collect my reward 'Wink'."

Sigh... You know I'm not even going to bother with excuses this time; these pictures go straight into her hidden folder.

Open: Downloads\Lingerie_Colection\001 .jpg


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

_Knock knock_

"Come in!"

The door opened and a girl that seemed to be in second year appeared.

"Excuse me, Suzumiya san…"

She was blushing slightly and had a box decorated with several hearts and a pink envelope attached to it on her hands, upon seeing this, Haruhi immediately knew what this was about and talked to her like a bored employee of the public administration.

"What is it?"

"I…I heard that you're going to Academy City on Thursday and I was wondering if…"

"Yes, Kyon talked to him already and he says he'll meet us there."

"I see that's wonderful, you see if it's not that much of a…"

"Sure, we can deliver that for you."

"Really thank you, I wanted to send it to him myself, but I was embarrassed because the carrier said they'd have to open the…"

"Don't worry, unless specifically asked by the authorities at the entrance, we won't open, weight or god forbid us… smell any package you send through us."

"Great, then about the cost…"

"It's free, I was stupid enough not to charge the first person that asked us and now my business ethics forbid me from charging anyone else."

"Thank you Suzumiya san, you really are a…"

"Just put the thing in that pile over there please."

The girl reluctantly placed her box on top of a huge mountain with the most varied packages that was near the door and bowed before leaving with a huge smile on her face.

"_Sigh_… just how many of these are we going to get?"

Koizumi pressed the button on a hand counter he was using.

"Well this was package number 86 and I heard his fan club is well into the three digits, so I guess a lot more."

"Man if this keeps up we're going to carry more of this stuff than our own luggage. Why must Academy City authorities be so paranoid? I mean to think that they require that all the mail must be check by security personnel before delivery, that's ridiculous!"

I don't know, I think our clients' being afraid of their packages being smelled at is even more paranoid… and borderline creepy too, actually is it really safe to carry those things around?

"Either way, we're already stuck with them so it doesn't matter anymore."

There were only a couple of days before the trip and it should be obvious by now that the news spread throughout the entire school and the members of North High's branch of Touma's fan club figured out maybe we could deliver a few packages to him.

Anyway, today we're supposed to meet with the person that'll be our tour guide in Academy City, apparently we need to sign a few papers to get our entry permissions, nothing serious by itself, but there was also something else…

"Man, why is he so late? I wonder if something happened to him."

You see it's really likely this person is an esper, and while according to Koizumi we don't have to worry about him using his ability in here, it'll be a whole different thing once we're in Academy City, so we need to confirm his intentions and according to Kanzaki san it may be needed to 'convince' him that using his ability near Haruhi is a bad idea; yeah apparently we now bully people into doing what we want… god I miss the times when the most dangerous thing we ever did was playing baseball.

"Kyon, go check the school and see if you can find him, maybe he got lost or something."

Ok, not like staying here watching the parade of girls sending love letters to someone else is amusing (ask Kanzaki san and Ichigo san if you don't believe me, they don't look amused in the slightest) so let's go.

…

Well there wasn't anyone suspicious inside the school or in the front yard, so the only place I have left to check is the little back yard right below the club room.

"Could you stop that already, I just want to finish this thing and go back home."

On it there was a beautiful girl with dark orange hair tied in a couple of long twin ponytails, dressed with a dark blue coat over her shoulders, a mini pleated skirt and white stockings for the cold and if you noticed I didn't mention anything about her shirt is because she's not wearing one, instead pink bandages are wrapped around her chest, but still the thing that called my attention the most was this huge flashlight that was hanging on her belt.

"Just give me five more minutes."

And together with her was a young man with dark hair and eyes who was carrying a huge backpack, judging by his looks I'd say he's a university student and he seemed to be looking at our window quite suspiciously.

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

"Huh?"

They were both surprised and quickly turned towards me and after she saw my face, the girl with the bandages seemed to recognize me.

"You are… What was your name again? You are the one they call Kyon right?"

"I guess so… are you by some chance the persons from Academy City that are supposed to be coming here today?"

I thought there was only one, oh well it doesn't matter.

"Yes, I'm Unabara Mitsuki, I'll be the person serving as your guide through the city, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Musujime Awaki, I'll be your guide into the residence of the general director, my pleasure."

They both bowed together.

"Same here."

I made a little bow myself before moving on to what really mattered.

"We should head to the clubroom; everyone is waiting for you guys."

"Sure."

I quickly guided them towards the school building, however before I leave I need to check something… Hmmm, Ichigo san is seating really close to the window today…

Anyway, we quickly made our way towards the clubroom; however just I was going to open the door Musujime san stopped me.

"Before we go inside Kyon kun there's a little something we need to discuss."

"Huh? What could it be?"

Unabara san got in front of me to explain themselves.

"You see our employer told us you knew about us not being regular people by your standards."

"Yeah, I know but..."

"Also he ordered us that under no circumstance we should use or talk about our abilities in front of your leader, not even when we are inside the city."

Well, that was easy.

"Seriously? That's a relief…"

"However!"

Musujime san interrupted me and cleared her throat.

"That it's just us, everything else that happens inside the city is the responsibility of your group! Understood?"

"Yeah sure, no problem."

It's not like we were expecting this to be any other way.

"Perfect, now that's taken care of, let's get on with it."

I opened the door and after a few introductions were done, they finally explained the reason for their visit.

"Everyone, in order to speed up the process this Thursday, we're going to need you to sign a few papers and collect some of your biometrical data."

As he said this Unabara san was pulling out from his backpack a laptop, a camera, a microphone, a fingerprint scanner and a retinal scanner.

"We're going to need a picture, a voice sample, fingerprints from your right and left hand and the retinal patterns of both eyes."

And while he was explaining the process, Musujime san was giving us several paper forms to every one of us.

"That way we can have your temporary ids ready for Thursday and we won't have to waste time at the entrance."

Ok, time to fill up these things I guess, there wasn't anything special about them, just regular stuff like name, address, phone number, nothing you wouldn't expect from this kind of stuff, however there was something that called my attention.

"Why do I have to sign so many of these things?"

Haruhi had about three times more papers in front of her than the rest of us.

"Suzumiya san, since the purpose of your visit is to decide whether or not you qualify for a scholarship in one of the many schools in Academy City, we need you to fill out a few extra papers also you're going to have to take an aptitude test when you finish with those."

She looked at Unabara san and sighed.

"Oh well, I guess there's no helping it."

When we finished the forms we had to take turns to get our biometrics measured, it was pretty simple: a picture against the wall, a scan of every finger and both eyes, finishing with saying your name in front of the microphone.

"Huh? Is something wrong Kanzaki san?"

Seriously, she was staring at me with her eyes wide open.

"It's nothing Kyon san, it's just that… It's the first time I hear it, your name I mean, it's wonderful …"

Yeah, maybe you people should start using it more often… or at all.

"But… it kind of sounds a little too royal and imposing."

Funny, I remember someone saying something like that before.

"Anyway, now the only thing left to do is Suzumiya san's aptitude test."

As he said this, Unabara san pulled out a stack of papers, a deck of cards and some other items from his backpack.

"I'm going to have to ask the rest of you to please leave the room for about an hour."

"Huh, why?"

"The test involves several advanced techniques developed by Academy City and we can't let anyone not involved on them see them."

I guess that makes sense, still I don't like the idea of leaving Haruhi alone with them.

"I took the test to enter Academy City with Oneesama when we were little… Misaka remember her 'past'."

The guy looked at Ichigo san with a face that read _'So cute!'_ and nodded.

"Ok, then Ichigo san can stay here and keep Suzumiya san company."

I noticed Musujime san looked at him annoyed but didn't say anything. Oh well I suppose if Ichigo san is with her nothing will happen and worst case scenario, Nagato should be able to tell us if something's wrong.

"Wait for us guys, I'll just finish this test as fast as I can and then we can go home."

"Sure no problem."

Anyway, Musujime san guided us outside before going back to the clubroom, locking the door behind her; once we were alone I figured out it was a good time to explain what they said to me before.

"…So according to them, they won't use their abilities in front of Haruhi, but we have to take care of everything else."

"I see if what they are saying its true then I guess you were right when you said Crowley just wouldn't say the truth to Suzumiya san just like that…"

It was pretty obvious really; I doubt the guy wants Haruhi's imagination running wild in his city… that wouldn't end well.

"Still that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful."

Then Koizumi turned to Nagato.

"Nagato san, about what I asked you before, did you manage to scan them?"

She just looked at him and nodded.

"Great, we'll discuss the results later, speaking about that, I think we should meet in the karaoke bar after this to decide on a course of action for the trip."

That place again? And what's this about a scan? I never noticed Nagato doing anything suspicious.

Anyway, everyone nodded and then we had nothing left to do but to wait for Haruhi to finish and take even more request for deliveries.

...

About 45 minutes later, we heard the door of the clubroom being unlocked.

"You can come in now!"

We entered the room and found that Unabara san had already packed all his stuff.

"Before we leave, I'd like to explain our itinerary for the next few days a little."

"Sure go ahead."

As he got Haruhi's permission, Unabara san quickly got in front of the group.

"We'll start the trip on Thursday, basically we'll take care of all the procedures left to get into the city and once we finish, we'll be attending a special event the general director prepared to welcome you."

How nice of him.

"Then on Friday, we'll make a quick tour through Academy City, the city itself is very big, so it's impossible to see all of it in one day, because of that we'll be focusing on the most important districts."

I'm guessing the ones Ichigo san mentioned the other day.

"On Saturday, we're supposed to meet with the general director, however before the interview, Suzumiya san will have to go through a physical examination and a few other tests that should take most of that day."

Musujime san interrupted her partner.

"I'll be accompanying you on that; I'm the only one of us that is able to guide people inside the residence of the general director."

"I see, well I don't like the idea of wasting an entire day out of three just for that, but I guess there's no helping it."

"Wonderful Suzumiya san, then the only day left is Sunday morning when you'll be free to do whatever you want until noon when we'll escort you back to your home."

"Great!"

"Well then, now that's taken care of, it's time for us to go now."

"Sure, we're on our way out too, let's go together."

We all walked towards the school entrance and that's when we said our goodbyes.

"Suzumiya san, everyone, it was a pleasure to meet you, I'll see you at the train station on Thursday, I should have your ids ready by then."

"Ok, we'll see you then, take care on the way back."

They both bowed and quickly walked away.

"Well, we should head back home now, remember tomorrow is the final day before the trip so take care of everything beforehand."

We parted ways as well; however the day was not over for the rest of us, as we had to meet in about an hour to discuss our plan for the trip.

**Awaki and 'Unabara Mitsuki'.**

As they were going back home on the train, two members of the recently established organization GROUP were discussing about their newest assignment.

"Man that was surprising, I didn't expect them to be so similar, I still think Misaka san is better obviously but Ichigo san is not bad at all."

"Did you really have to let that Misaka Mikoto look alike witness the entire test? We could get in real trouble for that!"

"Don't worry about it; I don't think that's going to be a problem."

However his calm attitude only got into the nerves of his partner.

"Not to mention you were staring at her for like 20 minutes from below the window… what are you, some kind of stalker or something? Why must I be surrounded by perverts that don't take their jobs seriously?"

"Shut up! At least I didn't give my e-mail and phone number to some random guy just because he looked like a little kid, Ms. Shotacon."

"Hey! That's none of you business."

Awaki whispered something to herself.

"…he was cute…"

And then she cleared her throat.

"Anyway, what about that girl? Is she really so special that we have to do all this?"

"Well, I'm not sure; I wasn't able to detect anything out of the ordinary about her but…"

"But what?"

"I'm not sure about this since I'm not an expert or anything, but aren't aptitude test supposed to tell you the things you're good at and the ones you're not?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Well, I uploaded her results into the computer and it says here that she's good at everything."

"No way!"

Then 'Unabara' turned his laptop around so Awaki could see the screen.

"See, she passed every single test with a near perfect score."

"But that makes no sense; when I took them I was told those tests are made so a high score on one should mean a low score in another one."

"And if you remember she didn't seem like she was trying too hard."

They looked at each other in disbelief.

"How about the tests that were supposed to measure her psychic capabilities?"

"Well…"

"What?"

"Remember the one that was disguised as a memory game?"

"You mean the one we lay down some cards on the table facing down and she has find the pairs but calling the figure on the card before turning it, yeah she got through it fairly easy, but that's not unusual; it's actually the standard for anyone considered for these kinds of test."

"That's not the problem; you couldn't have noticed since I was the one handling the cards, but the thing is that this test had a trick, there were a few figures on the box that weren't on the cards."

"But we gave her the box to see the figures and I don't remember she ever called one that wasn't on the table at the end."

"She didn't, the cards that were on the box somehow appeared on the table, and not only that, but there was a figure that was kind of ambiguous, the one on the box looked like a kitty and while I was shuffling the cards I noticed that up close it was more of a lion… she called it as a tiger and got it right."

"What? That makes no sense! It's like making the Schrödinger cat experiment and instead of guessing if the cat is dead or alive she pulls out a freaking dog out of the box."

"Yeah, I'm not an expert in the way esper abilities work, but I was told you guys could manipulate reality in a sense, however the way I see it, this girl takes that idea a step further and just rewrites it as she sees fit… and from what I could tell, she didn't seem to be aware of this."

There was a moment of silence were nobody said a thing.

"Just who is that girl?"

"I don't know, but I'll guess we'll find out soon enough."

**Back to the SOS Brigade:**

About an hour after we left the school, I went to that karaoke bar Koizumi is so attached to, when I arrived the waitress quickly recognized me and took me to the same cabin we always go to; inside everyone was already waiting for me.

"Well, now that we're complete we should begin with the meeting."

"What are we going to talk about this time Koizumi?"

"Well first I'd like to talk about our 'guides', I mentioned this afternoon that I asked Nagato san to scan them and see if we could get any useful information out of them."

He looked at Nagato and she nodded.

"The results of the analysis of subject Musujime Awaki reveal that she emits a considerable amount of AIM, taking into consideration the quantity and quality of the field, it seems to indicate that she's a strong level 4 esper... Nagato states the results of the scan."

"AIM… what?"

"It refers to An Involuntary Movement; it's an energy field we espers produce unconsciously… Misaka explain the basis of ESP."

"I see…"

"Any idea of what's her ability Nagato san?"

Nagato just shook her head without answering.

"I… I was thinking that maybe she's a teleporter."

"Why's that Asahina san?"

She looked rather nervous and was even fidgeting with her finger a little.

"Well, remember that girl that was with Mikoto san the other day, Shirai san, well since Kyon kun told us that she was a teleporter and I noticed that she and Musujime san both have similar hairstyles I figured out that maybe…"

She stopped talking as she noticed that we weren't quite buying her theory.

"…But I guess it can't be that easy... right?"

Koizumi looked at her and got his hand near his chin.

"Well while I don't agree with the methods, I do believe that your conclusion is correct Asahina san."

"…It is?"

"Remember she mentioned she was the only one of them allowed to guide people into the home of the general director, well I once heard from Motoharu that his residence is special in the sense that it's impossible to go inside without a guide and Ichigo san mentioned the other day it was called the 'windowless building', if you think about it, if it has no windows then the only way to get in without having to destroy it would be to be teleported inside."

What if you use the door? Then again if it has no windows, I suppose it doesn't have doors either.

"But if they have to teleport people inside, how are they planning to get Haruhi in there without her noticing something's fishy?"

There was a small moment of silence to show no one had an idea of how they were planning to do that.

"What about the guy that was with her?"

"The results of the analysis of subject Unabara Mitsuki show that he doesn't emit any form of AIM whatsoever, this seems to indicate that he's a regular human... Nagato states the results of the other scan"

"I guess that if Crowley doesn't want Suzumiya san to notice espers exists, it makes sense to sense to send a non esper as her guide, but…"

"But when he told me about them not using their special abilities, he was talking in plural, obviously including himself."

"He's probably a magician then."

Kanzaki san interrupted us and we all turned to see her.

"But I thought magicians didn't get along with the science side Kanzaki san."

"That's true Koizumi san, but still that doesn't mean we can't cooperate if need arises, for an example I've heard our Archbishop maintains strict diplomatic negotiations with the leader of Academy City and they even have a few treaties going on between them… doesn't mean that they get along. "

Kanzaki san took a little break to think about something before continuing.

"Also I don't think his real name is the one he told us… and call it a hunch but I don't think his appearance it's his own either."

"Why?"

"Because he looks and acts like a normal student from Academy City, but there's only one documented case of a student there being a magician and it's not him, so I think it makes sense to think that he just stole someone else appearance and it's posing like that person to avoid suspicion."

"Well I did notice there was something weird about him, but that was mainly the way he kept stealing glances at Ichigo san the whole time."

As I said that everyone nodded, thank god I wasn't the only one that noticed that.

"But thanks to that, Misaka was able to exploit his weakness and stay in the room when the aptitude test was applied… Misaka says mockingly."

You mean that was on purpose? Well done Ichigo san!

"Speaking about that Ichigo san, could you please tell us about the aptitude test?"

"Yes, unfortunately I wasn't allowed to see the questions for the written tests, however for the more practical ones I noticed they were just the standard tests used to measure one psychic prowess, but disguised as games or other common activities… Misaka remembers what she saw."

"I see, I figured it was something like that, Crowley seems very eager to investigate her, so I guess the sooner the better; the physical examination they mentioned is probably an extension of this."

That makes sense.

"Well I think that's all the information we can gather from our guests today, now about the trip, did you people managed to contact your organizations for assistance? Unfortunately mine is not in good terms with Academy City and our influence there is pretty much zero, still I talked to a couple of members and they told me they'll see what they could do."

"Speaking about that Koizumi, remember what I mentioned the other day?"

"Yeah, I must admit I'm not particularly thrilled by the idea, but there's just not helping it this time, I told them to go to that theater tomorrow."

"I talked to the people at my church and they agreed to send some of my former comrades to help."

"You mean the Amakusa Catholics Kanzaki san."

"Yeah, our church is an expert in hiding our beliefs and magic into everyday items, so I don't think there's anyone better for this mission."

Funny, she looked rather gloomy on Sunday when they talked to her, but right now she's saying those words filled with pride and you can see she's really fond of them; not really honest with yourself aren't you Kanzaki san?

"I asked my superiors, but as you know my organization doesn't believe we should interfere with the past in any way, so…"

So, as usual Asahina san (older) doesn't tell herself anything.

"It's ok Asahina san, we understand, please don't worry about it."

She looked down on the floor with a really sad face.

"Thank you, Kyon kun."

There was a little silence after that before Ichigo san continued with the discussion.

"I talked with the system administrator and she agreed to let several SISTERS go back into Academy City for this mission, unfortunately since it happened on such a short notice, the number of Misakas participating on it will only be of a few dozen; still two of them should be going to the theater tomorrow … Misaka informs about the backup she got."

I like how she says that as if a few dozen was a small number.

"Also, I need to tell you something, during the trip I might be absent for a day since I need to go to the hospital for a medical checkup… Misaka states a problem."

"Why? Are you sick Ichigo san?"

"No, it's just that due to some circumstances, Misaka needs to be in constant medical treatment to improve her life span, unfortunately this town doesn't have the proper infrastructure for them and since we're going to Academy City, Misaka thought she could make use of this to visit a famous doctor that lives there… Misaka explains her situation."

Well to be honest since Nagato is really attached to her and Haruhi likes her as well, I doubt her life span is going to run out anytime soon thanks to her being in good terms with the right people, still it's always better to be safe than sorry, so there's no way I'm objecting to this.

"Please don't worry about this, I talked with the system administrator and she authorized another Misaka to take my place on that day, so you shouldn't notice any difference… Misaka says encouraging."

I'd like to think that we would, but what do I know?

"Ok, what about you Nagato?"

"Currently the Integrated Data Sentient Entity is interested in observing subject Kamijou Touma and his data destroying capabilities, so a humanoid interface currently assigned to observe Suzumiya san is going to be relocated for that purpose, she also has another humanoid interface far more suited for combat that was to be decommissioned under her command… Nagato states the help she managed to get."

Well, that's great I guess.

"But if you're going to observe Touma, aren't you afraid he might accidentally erase them from existence."

"No, in order to prevent those kind of accidents, they'll have to periodically back up all of their data whenever they're near him, using these backups it's possible to completely reconstruct them from zero if needed… Nagato states the backup plan."

If that's true then why were you so afraid when… forget it, I understand, even if it's an identical backup, it just wouldn't be the same, right Nagato?

"Great, so the only one left is you Kyon kun."

"Well I already told you I called Touma and he and Mikoto san are willing to help… and yes I talked with her too and her group is also willing to help us."

"Who's her Kyon kun?"

Great, why must Asahina san ask the question I don't want to answer?

"You see Asahina san… Remember the girl that attacked us the other day, well… for some reasons I managed to get a hold of her phone number and Koizumi told me I had to call her for help."

There was silence after I said that and for some reason I could feel some faint murderous auras in the air.

"That woman… are you sure it was a good idea to call her Koizumi kun."

"Yeah, no offence but she almost destroyed the universe a couple of weeks ago."

Koizumi however had no trouble smiling despite Asahina san and Kanzaki san objections.

"Exactly, think about it, despite being outnumbered and outgunned her group managed to outperformed us and succeed, I don't like saying this, but the only reason the universe is safe and Suzumiya san didn't found out about everything was because of dumb luck."

Can't say anything against that, he's right.

"Not to mention it's pretty obvious that their leader got really attached to Kyon kun for some reason…"

Stop chuckling you…!

"And since they already beat us here and we're now heading into their home turf, I figured out we shouldn't take the risk and use our advantage to get their help, or at the very least for them to remain neutral and not on the opposite side."

Then Koizumi's expression changed to his serious one.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of asking for her help either, but I'm not willing to take any risks with this trip and if we have the means to make things easier for us then I see no reason for us not to take advantage of them."

Thank you Koizumi, I'm happy to be your sacrificial lamb; still I can see why he's so anxious, if Haruhi finds out about Academy City's secret then Koizumi's esper kind might be the one in most danger, either because she gets bored of espers altogether or because she embraces the A.C.'s variant so much that other types become unneeded.

"I hate to admit it but Koizumi's right, Shizuri told me that she was hired to kidnap Haruhi this weekend."

"She told you that and you still asked for her help? Kyon san, that's not…"

"Actually she told me that after I asked and she also told me she was planning on canceling that mission anyway, according to her the whole thing is just a trap set up for them to distract us while someone else kidnapped her."

"Someone else?"

"I don't know the details, I mean she mentioned something about a school but I couldn't follow what she was saying, the only thing I know is that whoever he is she doesn't seem too fond of him, I mean she kept calling him a bastard and told me that as a special service for me, she would spy on him and betray him when the time comes… I don't think she was lying about that, she sounded way too eager to backstab the guy."

Of course, I skipped the part about her requiring a reward for her services, the murderous auras I talked about before haven't disappeared completely and I don't think they would appreciate that information.

"I suppose something like that is to be expected, if someone as important as Suzumiya san is going to Academy City then the people Ichigo san was talking about the other day are bound to make their move."

"It's possible that the information about her leaked somehow and if that's the case I doubt that this is the only attempt at a kidnapping or worse that's in motion right now… Misaka states the worst case scenario."

"Yeah, Shizuri also mentioned something like that."

Kanzaki san made a little 'tsk' sound annoyed.

"Damn it! And to think we aren't going to be able to fight this time!"

"Why is that Kanzaki san?"

"Think about it Kyon san, if it's a tour the most natural thing would be for us to stay together at all times and if Suzumiya san is with us then if we fight she'll see us."

"It's actually more like: if we have to fight then we already lost."

"Exactly Koizumi san!"

"Then I guess we have no choice but to trust on the people supporting us."

Everyone looked at me as I said those words and nodded.

**Preparations for the invisible war.**

**Wednesday, Hakumeiza (Twilight Theater): **

It was already quite late when Kamijou Touma got inside the abandoned theater; last time he was here was because of that incident with Orsola Aquinas.

"Seems like I'm the first one…"

He got inside and noticed there were several chairs carefully arranged in a circle on the middle of the room and there were also several cards carefully placed on the wall and on the ceiling, he tried to touch one of them but was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Don't touch them!"

He turned around to find someone he knew.

"Stiyl?"

"Kamijou Touma! Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

He chuckled.

"What about you? Are you here for Suzumiya san too?"

"Of course, the Church of England is very interested in that girl and protecting her comes as our first priority… by the way what about the person you're supposed to protect? I thought she was coming with you."

"Index is in the house right now, I figured out she was better off not getting involved in this."

"Still playing hero behind her back I see."

The red haired magician took a little sip at his cigarette annoyed before making a 'tsk' sound.

"Whatever! As long as she's fine I guess its ok."

There was a little moment of silence before Touma made the question he wanted to ask since the beginning.

"Stiyl tell me just who is that girl?"

The red haired magician took a long sip of his cigarette before answering.

"Beats me! The only thing I can tell you about her it's the official position of the Church of England and that is that she's a manifestation of God's holy will here on earth."

"I see."

"You don't seem surprised."

"I asked Index about her and she told me that among the 103.000 grimoires the only entities that resembled her was God and something called ´La Persona superiore a Dio´, I supposed you guys would get to a similar conclusion as well."

Then he let out a yawn and stretched himself.

"But at least I thought you would have some better explanations about her."

"There are at least a dozen theories around the world that try to explain her powers; the one that's more accepted right now is that her beliefs define what is real."

"What do you mean?"

"You know there are some people who believe God didn't create humans, but rather it's the other way around and it's the beliefs of humans the power that gave birth to God and keeps him alive."

"I think I heard something about that before…"

"Of course as a member of the British Church I find that to be nonsense, but if you apply that concept to her, you could say that her beliefs are the power that defines the way the world should be."

"I don't think I'm following you."

Stiyl sighed.

"Remember that alchemist we fought once, Aureolus Izzard."

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Think about his Ars Magna for a second; that was a form of alchemy that allowed him to make his thoughts a reality."

"So she's similar to that?"

"Kind of, but far more powerful, for an example Aureolus Izzard couldn't make a vampire appear in front of him because he had never seen one, he had an idea, but the lack of a clear image on his head made him unable to do it… our girl however would only need to have a desire to see a vampire and an idea of how they're like and one would appear in front her just like she imagined it."

Kamijou swallowed.

"It's not that simple though, there's also the part about her common sense telling her that those things aren't real and it's because of that internal conflict she has that we're unable to reveal ourselves to her; still the point remains that she doesn't need to understand the concept, but rather her beliefs define what the concept should be."

"So basically the world is the way she believes it should be?"

"Exactly, for an example if you think about it something as big as Academy City doesn't need to hide, actually it would make more sense if the city advertised itself as it would be easier to get talent for esper development that way."

"But since Suzumiya san likes conspiracy theories, she believes that these kind organizations should remain hidden."

"Which causes certain conditions to appear that force them to remain like that; it's as simple as that."

Touma sweat dropped a little and scratched the back of his head.

"Man she really is kind of scary.

Another sip at this cigarette later, Stiyl chuckled.

"The worst part is that she isn't even aware of it."

He chuckled some more but stopped completely.

"Seems like we have company."

Then from the entrance of the building two figures appeared, one was a girl in a middle school uniform with short brown hair…

"It's that you Biri Biri?"

The other one was of a nun dressed in white robes kept together by safety pins.

"Index…? What are you doing here?"

And once the lighting made possible to see their faces it was obvious they were really pissed.

"Touma~! Why do you an appointment with Short Hair in the middle of the night?"

"You~! Could explain to me what was she doing in your apartment?"

Touma took a step backwards and sweat dropped.

"Well I… I mean… I can explain…"

"Touma~!"

"You~!"

Index immediately jumped at Touma and bit him in the head, a pain he was unfortunately getting used to, but his misfortune actually saved his life, as thanks to it, he could concentrate enough to block the lightning bolts coming at him.

"How come you only stop me…?"

Luckily for Touma, she got distracted by the red haired man that was right beside him, who looked at her with a face that showed exactly how he felt, amused by the situation but in no way wanting to get involved with it.

"Oh, please pay no attention to the man in the black robes… go on… just make sure to only hurt the guy."

As he spoke, Index recognized his voice and let Touma go.

"What are you doing here…?"

Then her expression changed for her serious one.

"Are you trying to get Touma involved in something dangerous again?"

"You could say that, but is for a good cause this time; 'that person' is coming to Academy City."

"You mean Haruhi san?"

But before he could answer her, they were interrupted by the girl they had ignored.

"That person? What are you people…?"

Mikoto stopped talking as he noticed the red haired man made a sign for them to be quiet; they remained in silence for a while as they heard footsteps and some people talking in the background.

"I don't get it, why do I have to escort you here? First you made drive you around that town, I even had to spend an entire week moving stuff in that building and now this, I'm not your lackey damn it!"

"You're escorting us because your girlfriend needed to go out the city through district 10 and of course you wouldn't let her alone in such a dangerous place."

"Leave him Frenda, he's just pissed because we didn't invite him to the hot springs the other day… sorry Hamazura, I'm sure you were looking forward to bathing with Takitsubo, but the baths weren't mixed anyway."

"That's not…"

And once they were closer Touma noticed it was the girl that attacked him the other day and three other girls together with a young man with bleached hair.

"Ah! It's you!"

When they heard Mikoto's voice the group was startled and noticed the people in front of them, then Mugino took place in front of her coworkers.

"I'm assuming you're the people we're supposed to cooperate with."

She talked to Stiyl completely ignoring anyone else.

"Yes, you must be the underground organization ITEM right?"

"Correct, I'm Mugino Shizuri and these are my partners, Kinuhata Saiai, Takitsubo Rikou, Frenda and our lackey Hamazura Shiage."

"I said I'm not your lackey damn it!"

Mugino rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Ok ok, our 'assistant' Hamazura Shiage."

"I see, I'm afraid I must ask your 'assistant' to wait outside please."

Mugino made a sign to Hamazura, who just nodded and raised his shoulders before leaving.

"Well…"

"What are you doing here?"

She was interrupted by Mikoto who was looking at her annoyed; as the number 3 and 4 espers of the city there was quite a rivalry between them (most of it was just Mugino being jealous of her though).

"What do you mean? We were hired specifically for this mission…"

Then Mugino sighed and raised her shoulders.

"But nobody told me I had to work with a little kid, oh well I guess there's no helping it."

Mikoto sparked a little.

"Ha! I could say the same thing about working with an old woman."

"What did you…?"

Yet before Mugino could snap at her, proving once again that he has no common sense Touma got in between them to try to stop them.

"Oioi, calm down we're all in the same side here."

"Shut up!"/"That's none of your…"

And once Mugino recognized him she slapped him on the face as hard as she could, he even fell to the floor.

"What was that for?"

"For insinuating I had 'loose morals' the other day, just so you know I only need one man in my life."

Once she realized what she said she blushed a little, while Frenda frowned and Saiai chuckled.

"But I was talking about… "

As he lamented his misfortune and rubbed his cheek Touma noticed a hand extended towards him, he gladly took it to help himself.

"Thank you."

Once he stood up he noticed it belonged to the double eyelids girl from the Amakusa Catholics that helped him during the incident in Italy and not only her, but several of her partners and even their leader Tatemiya Saiji was in the theater.

"No, it's my pleasure."

She quickly moved away looking embarrassed and as she did Touma could feel two horrible auras of death aiming at him.

"Touma~!"/"You~!"

But before he could react he felt both of his arms being pulled and later being pressed towards the bodies of the persons hugging him.

"It's been a long time… Misaka says as she greets her savior."

"Nice to meet you, it is this Misaka first time interacting with her savior, I'm Misaka 19090… Misaka says overjoyed."

As it should be obvious by now there wasn't one but two Misakas hugging him… needless to say that made the two auras of death even bigger.

"Itsuwa, what are you doing? Go get him!"

"Yeah, they got the arms already so go for the neck or the chest."

"Aw man there's even more of them… and they're triplets."

"And to think we believed that with the supreme pontiff being with the Goddess, it would be easier for her."

"We're rooting for you Itsuwa!"

As the double eyelids girl blushed, her partners laughed and everyone else tried not to get involved, one unlucky boy could only say:

"Such misfortune!"

And desperately try to survive.

"Are you supposed to be the people we have to work with?"

But fortunately for him, someone spoke and made everyone stop to look at her; she was an office lady with brown hair and eyes, accompanied by a middle age man in a suit who looked just like any butler in an American movie.

"I'm guessing you come from that organization."

Stiyl blew some smoke and looked at them almost like he was expecting them, actually so far he had been completely unsurprised by everything, it was like he knew in advance who was going to come.

"Yes, I'm Sonou Mori and this is one my associates Arakawa san."

"Nice to meet you everyone."

They bowed and took seat in two of the chairs that were prepared on the room.

"Shall we start yet?"

Mori san smiled in a calm yet terrifying way that made everyone listen to her, this was enough to completely stop the circus that was going on and made everyone take their seats in silence.

"Not yet, I was informed we had two more guests today."

"Two? Judging by the remaining chairs I thought it would be just one."

A good observation since when everyone took seat only two chairs remained free.

"No, there are two; I won't take a seat myself."

He smiled at her but was interrupted by a voice coming from the entrance.

"I believe the last guest should be just me."

The last person to arrive on the room was a girl with green hair and a soft smile; she was wearing a school uniform that Touma quickly recognized as it belonged to the school he attended in the town he lived for the past month.

"You must be the homunculus sent from that thing; I thought the other one said there were two of you coming?"

The girl bowed smiling.

"Yes, I'm Kimidori Emiri, you're correct about the numbers, but unfortunately the other one can only be summoned in case of emergencies."

"I see, oh well then I guess we're complete now… and it doesn't seem like there're rats around either."

He urged her to take her seat and then moved to the back of the room to place a card on it.

_T-P-I-M-I-M-S-P-F-T_

"That should prevent anyone else from entering."

Then he stood up on the center of the group and chanted a quick spell that made a spot on the ceiling right on top of him shine and little after that a voice could be heard from there.

"Good night everyone, I'm happy that you could come here tonight."

The voice was female and quite beautiful, for some reason it remind Touma of the girl that was with Kanzaki the other day, Asahina san was her name he believed; however it couldn't be her as this voice had a certain maturity to it; to be honest he really liked it and to someone like Kamijou Touma whose type were women who were "Oneesamas", a grown up and more mature Asahina san would be quite near to how he imagine his ideal woman to be… unfortunately for him, sometimes the worst misfortunes are the ones we never knew they happened.

"What the hell is that?"

Mikoto spoke and her words also reflected the thoughts of several of the occupants of the room such as her SISTERS or ITEM.

Stiyl looked at her and blew some smoke.

"Just a little magic trick."

"What the…"

However the voice in the ceiling interrupted her.

"I'm sorry Mikoto san, there will be time to explain everything later on, however first there're other things we have to attend to."

The voice made a little chuckled and continued.

"Anyway, nice to meet you everyone, I'm the person in charge of this operation, I'm confident that the people that sent you here told you all you need to know about me, so I'll skip the introductions and go straight to the point; Stiyl if you would be so kind please?."

The red haired mage sighed.

"Sure…"

He pulled out several laminated talismans from his robe and gave them to everyone but Touma.

"How come I don't get one?"

"You do, but you have to pick it up with your left and be extremely careful with it."

He immediately understood and did as he was told.

"Ok."

"What's this?"

The members of the science side looked at the paper with curiosity, while the ones from the magic side already knew what they were.

"Everyone, we're going to be using those cards to communicate, I'll be telling you what you should do through them; Misaka Imouto san I wasn't sure how many of you were going to participate, so I'll give you those two and you'll have to relay the information to the rest."

"Yes, that won't be a problem… Misaka says confident."

"And Emiri san, please give the other card you have to your partner."

"With pleasure."

Mikoto however was unconvinced.

"Are you kidding me? How can a little piece of paper…"

And once again the voice interrupted her, this time however it came out from the talisman she was holding.

"Mikoto san, you should know there are things in this world that go beyond your comprehension and sometimes it's just better to not know and just use them."

That scared her and almost made her drop the talisman, once she saw that Mugino let out a chuckle.

"I don't really care what this is; we have a job to do and that's all it matters, the tools we use are irrelevant."

The girls of ITEM nodded, they've already seen a few things that were beyond their comprehension during their stay in that town the other day and one more wouldn't hurt.

"We're pros after all… not like the little kids that should just leave us alone and go back home to play with their dolls."

Mikoto looked at her ready to pick a fight, but she was interrupted by Index.

"But, these aren't only for communication right?"

Stiyl smiled a little.

"I should've known you'd notice, you're correct, these also have the function to keep track of the person holding them and maintain a log of every conversation that goes through them."

Then Mori san let out a small a chuckle.

"That explains everything, no wonder I thought this was fishy."

The voice went back to the ceiling.

"Yes, I need to keep a record of this entire operation and this is the easier way to accomplish that… Anyway, now that settled there's a few things we need to discuss."

Then it moved to the talisman Mugino was holding.

"Mugino san, I was informed that you were originally hired to kidnap Suzumiya san and that you were willing to betray your employer and partners in that mission, am I correct?"

"That's true."

"Are you sure you are going to be ok?"

"Yep, since we took the mission that involved that noisy girl from unofficial channels, no one should know we've meet her, I made sure we weren't being followed and we got out of the city through district 10; you see thanks to the Skill Out guys breaking all the cameras and robots; nobody should know we left the city."

"Good, Have you met with your partners already?"

"No, the meeting with the bastard is tomorrow morning; we're supposed to decide on a course of action then."

"Great, please take your cards to the meeting, they also work as listening devices so we can keep track of everything."

"Sure, don't worry, you can listen to everything and make sure we don't betray you too."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure 'Mugi chan' has a pretty good reason to be a good girl, so she won' betray us or someone won't like her."

Mugino jumped back at Mikoto's comment and became a little nervous, while Frenda got a frown on her face and Saiai chuckled.

"What… what are you talking about?"

Mikoto talked to her mockingly as she knew why was Mugino doing this, or rather who was she doing it for; thanks to Koizumi san's explanations the other day she knew about her becoming attached to a certain someone, she didn't knew why, but she didn't care either.

"I wonder… but aren't you a little too old for…"

"Mikoto san, please don't start a fight right now, you can tease Mugino san about the reasons she's doing this later."

And after this Mugino could confirm something about the person the voice belong to, she didn't like her.

"Anyway Mugino san, about the person you're working with…?"

Mugino cleared her throat and recovered her composure.

"It's not just one person, but rather a group of losers led by the biggest narcissist bastard in the world, they call themselves SCHOOL."

Index tilted his head sideways a little.

"Huh? A school… which one?"

Mugino and her partners chuckled.

"No, not a school, I mean SCHOOL, an underground organization just like our own that belongs to that bastard Kakine Teitoku."

"But that shouldn't be a problem, I'm the 3rd strongest and you're the 4th right? If they're espers we can probably beat them just the two of us."

Once again Mugino rolled her eyes.

"You're too cocky kid, even if he's not the number one; there's still another number above you and it would be unwise to take the second place lightly, his unknown matter is not something we can beat so easily, even if we work together."

Mugino almost fell like throwing up, this was the first time in her life she gave that bastard any credit, but the kid was right, she needed this mission to be perfect and if that meant she had to waste a chance to take the second spot from him then so be it, the reward her Kyon promised takes priority over everything.

"Number 2? So that's his name… well it doesn't matter, if we really can't beat him then we'll just leave him to the level 0 that beat the strongest."

Mikoto said this with extreme confidence while Touma sweat dropped and the girls of ITEM minus Rikou reacted with curiosity.

"You mean that wasn't just a rumor?"

"Nope, I saw it with my own eyes, it wasn't without help, but this idiot did beat the Accelerator."

She pointed at Touma.

"Oioi Mi…"

"So you're saying it was him?"

Mugino laughed out loud.

"Hey it's the truth!"

Mugino was going to say something; however she was stopped by the sound of the voice in the ceiling clearing her throat.

"Anyway, thank you for the information Mugino san, please be really careful on the meeting tomorrow."

Mugino moved her hand through her hair confident.

"Of course."

"Anyway besides them, there are several other organizations after Suzumiya san, not to mention there's also the factor of esper powers being a common occurrence on Academy City, this is an extremely difficult mission, so I need you to do as I say exactly as I say or…"

She interrupted by a 'tsk' sound that came from Mori san.

"We understand, basically if we want this to be perfect we have to be your puppets, no problem, as long as the status quo is preserved my organization will be happy… hope you enjoy commanding enough firepower to take on a small country."

The voice on the ceiling chuckled a little.

"Ok Mori san, then if you all understand this I believe we can end this meeting, just remember to keep your schedule free for anything I might need you to do, ok?"

Everyone nodded some of them reluctantly, but they did it none the less.

"Great, then I'll be contacting you later, bye!"

The shine on the ceiling disappeared and the talismans that were on the building fell off and burned out.

"She didn't even tell us who she was."

Touma scratched the back of his head.

After that, the people on the theater made a quick introduction among themselves and left, there was no reason for them to stay in there anyway; a few minutes later, only Touma, Stiyl and Emiri remained in the building, luckily for the boy with the spiky hair, the heroines from each side seemed to be distracted by what just happened and forgot about his punishment… actually they were just waiting for him to come out the building for it though.

"Excuse me, Kamijou san?"

While he was wondering about what he should do, he noticed Emiri had gotten closer to him with a smile on her face.

"Can I help you with something… Kimidori san, right?"

"Kamijou san, I represent an entity that is interested in observing your right hand; so as part of the agreement to cooperate on this mission it's required for me to keep an eye you, any objections?."

He tried to answer but before he could speak, Stiyl did.

"He accepts."

He was going to protest, but it was Emiri who stopped him this time.

"Great, then I'll be living and staying near you from now on, I hope you don't mind if I move to your apartment right now."

"But…"

She looked at him with a smile that showed no malice whatsoever, for some reason this remind Stiyl of someone he knew.

"Also, I ask of you to please refrain from touching me with your right hand, any other part of your body is ok though."

Touma took a step backwards; somehow he knew he'll be seeing the auras of death again.

"Such misfortune!"

Then the girl in front of him made a bow.

"I might be inexperienced, but please take care of me."

**Prelude to an invisible war IV (End)**

**Vatican City, ****St. Peter's Basilica.**

In the main headquarters of the Roman Catholics, an old man and a rather 'exquisite' woman were discussing something of utmost importance.

"It seems Acqua meet with that girl last Sunday."

"And? What happened?"

"According to him while they aren't undistinguishable from each other, it seems they are fundamentally the same."

"But that's impossible!"

"I know, but he's the only one of us that can see their aura, so if he says so then we have no choice but to believe him."

"Just what in God's name does this even mean?"

"I don't know, but the way things are right now we can't let this be known to the public… you know what that means don't you?"

The old man looked down on his desk and checked the document the woman just brought; it was rather familiar as he had to sign a similar one not so long ago.

"You didn't even carry out the last one and you're asking me to sign another one of these?"

The woman snapped back at him.

"Shut up! I would have done it already but I was called back when she appeared! Not to mention this is far more important than that little kid."

The old man sighed and sulked.

"Are you sure there's no other way?"

"There's not, it's only a matter of time before hell literally break loose over this, we must act now!"

"What about the other Churches? This could become an international incident if we act carelessly."

"The English Anglicans already acknowledged that one; fortunately for us they're keeping it a secret from everyone but the people directly associated with them and since she's not officially a part of their religion nor can they force her to be, they can't whine about anything we do to her. The other churches such as the Russian Orthodox and the like don't seem to know a thing… no matter how you see it this is the perfect time for us to make our move."

"What about the science side?"

"There are tons organizations after her, but I couldn't care any less about them!"

The woman slammed her hand against the table.

"Listen, I know you don't like that she's just some pagan girl that doesn't suspect a thing, but it should be obvious by now that we can't let her existence be known otherwise not only us, but every single religion on earth is finished."

The old man was a little shaken by her words.

"I guess you're right…"

Then he reluctantly signed the paper on his desk.

'_Haruhi Suzumiya'._

'_Si prega di indagare con urgenza e se lei dimostra di essere un nemico di Dio, disporre di lei immediatamente.'_

It meant: 'Please investigate urgently and if she proves to be an enemy of God, dispose of her immediately.' basically it was just an assassination's order.

"Great, you know don't feel bad about this, it's a fact that there's only one God in this world… I'm just getting rid of the 'Mistake'."

* * *

**Author's note: **The Italian phrase on this chapter was created by passing the English meaning through Google translator, which means it's probably not completely right or maybe it doesn't even make sense, unfortunately I don't know the language so I can't tell and I'd really appreciate if anyone who knows Italian could confirm if the phrase is correct or help me fix it if it isn't.

* * *

**Omake**

**An (un)fateful meeting:**

It was already evening when Misaka Mikoto was standing in front of a door, but this wasn't any door mind you, this was 'his' door.

"I suppose I should knock."

He had recently asked for her help in something important and it was needed for them to meet on an abandoned theater in eastern Tokyo to work on the details, so she thought they could walk there together… I mean she didn't know the exact location and it was obvious that if he wanted her help, he could at least guide her to the place… and maybe hold her hand so she wouldn't get lost...

_Knock knock_

"Now that I think about it, how am I going to explain him that I know where his apartment is?"

She blushed.

"If I tell him that I hacked the city network he's going to think I'm a stalker or something."

She blushed a lot more.

"But I already told him that's how I got his address on that town so… maybe he thinks I am one already? But that's just a misunderstanding…"

The door opened and she was so embarrassed that she could only close her eyes and blurt out the first thing on her mind.

"I'm not a stalker! I just wanted to…"

"What are you doing here Short Hair?"

She opened her eyes surprised and found a petite nun looking at her.

"Did I get the wrong apartment? He did say you were neighbors so maybe..."

She whispered a few things to herself while the nun just watched with curiosity.

"If you're looking for Touma he said he was going to get groceries, so he should be back any minute now."

"Ehhh? But we were supposed to meet in the Hakumeiza later on!"

"What… did you say?"

Suddenly the air around the nun changed completely, it was so bad that even the third ranked esper in the world backed out a little.

"Well… he called me and told me to meet him on that place tonight so we could…"

"TOUMA~!"

That scared her and made her jumped back a little; the nun got outside the house shutting the door behind her and then marched out of the building looking like an awoken demon, once she was out of sight Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief.

"What was her prob…?"

Then her face changed to something that resembled the nun's when she noticed something she hadn't seen before… the nameplate besides the door the nun came out… the one with his name on it.

"THAT IDIOT~!"

She quickly got out of the building and joined the nun on her march, they didn't shared one word in the entire way, but they both agreed on one thing… someone owed them a few explanations.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

It was already pass noon and everyone was already gathered at the train station, we had already met with Unabara san and we were waiting for the next train that would take us near Academy City.

"Kyon san, your luggage is moving…"

Huh! What? Kanzaki san pointed at my bag and… you don't mean? Probably, chances are I didn't notice this time because I'm using a bag with wheels on it.

"God, not this again…"

I opened the bag and lo and behold there she was; she blinked at me with a smile on her face as if she just did something funny.

"Kyon kun, you're aware that smuggling people it's a really serious crime aren't you?"

As Unabara san looked at me, I could do nothing but chuckle nervously.

"What wrong… hey Kyon what's your little sister doing in your bag?"

"Trying to smuggle herself into our trip I guess…"

She got out of the bag, pouted and looked at me annoyed.

"Kyon kun you're so mean, trying to leave me behind again!"

Unfortunately the nature of this trip made you ineligible to participate on it, not that the rest of us are in a better position.

"Sorry, I tried asking Mr. Crowley about you, but since you're not officially a part of the brigade I couldn't convince him."

Haruhi got closer to her and patted her head; she just looked at her and sighed.

"But I want to go with you…"

Haruhi smiled tenderly at her before turning towards Unabara san.

"Hey Mitsuki san, do you think it would be possible…?"

He just shook his head.

"I'm sorry Suzumiya san; it's too late to add more people."

"I see… I'm sorry Imouto chan."

"It's ok Haru-nyan, I understand…"

"Next trip I promise you'll come with us, ok?"

"Thank you…"

Then she nodded and smiled before getting distracted by Kanzaki san standing next to Haruhi.

"Kyon kun, who is the Oneechan standing next to Haru-nyan? She's huge!"

In more ways than one… Wait a minute, how come she gets to be called 'Oneechan' while your real sibling is stuck with a nickname? Anyway, then she looked at Ichigo san who was seating on a bench besides Nagato, reading perfectly synchronized as always.

"And Nagato chan has a new friend too."

She looked at me pouting again.

"Kyon kun that's not fair! You made new friends when I wasn't around."

"Oh yeah, I haven't introduced them to you sorry, she's Kanzaki Kaori san and the one with Nagato is Misaka Ichigo san; Ichigo san, Kanzaki san this is my little sister."

Kanzaki san looked at her and tried to make a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you Imouto chan."

"It's a pleasure… Misaka says nicely."

"Nice to meet you too."

She made a little bow before turning back to me.

"Well then, I guess I'll be going now…"

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"No I'm fine, it's not that far away from here…"

"Ok, send me a message or give me a call when you arrive."

"Sure…"

Then she started leaving, but in a typical childish fashion she would turn around every two steps or so to look at us.

"Are you sure I can't…"

"Sorry."

"Ok."

Then she would look down on the floor before turning back and that exact same routine would repeat about ten times before she finally left.

"To be honest, I feel bad for not letting her come with us, but it just couldn't be helped this time."

Haruhi made a sigh and looked a little sad.

"I'm sorry Suzumiya san, but all the preparations were already done with 7 people in mind and there is also the procedures we did the other day, so adding another person at the last minute is impossible."

"Yeah, I understand."

She let out a sigh before moving away from us.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere in particular, I just thought I'd buy a magazine or something to read…"

"Ok."

A few minutes later Haruhi came back just in time to board the train, we got inside and quickly made ourselves comfortable for what was supposed to be a short trip of about an hour or so, strangely enough the ride was pretty silent mainly because I was sitting with Asahina san, Kanzaki san and Haruhi (for some reason Unabara san was really eager to ditch us and sit near Ichigo san) and while the two AAAA+ girls were happily talking to each other, our dear leader was engrossed reading the magazine she bought.

"Hey Haruhi, what are you reading about?"

She reluctantly redirected her eyes from the magazine to me, and one look at her face revealed she had already cheered up.

"Stem cell research, this is amazing Kyon! They can use the cells in your umbilical cord to create pretty much any cell they want and it says here that in the future they'll be able to use them to erase scars and maybe even replace missing body parts like arms, eyes or internal organs; it's basically a form of regeneration!"

After that overly enthusiastic explanation, she quickly went back to her magazine; who would have thought she was reading about the medical field? Not that I'm complaining, I mean just the fact that she is interested on that probably means that a few breakthrough discoveries about Stem cells are in order...

Oh well if she doesn't want to talk then I guess I'll take a little nap.

…

"_Sleeping again stupid!"_

Huh?

"_It's the same thing that happened during our summer trip, were you really being honest when you told me you wanted to take your duties more seriously?"_

What? I reluctantly woke up when I heard a camera snapping nearby.

"I took another one of these and one when you were asleep too."

Asahina san? I opened my eyes I noticed the brigade's camera right in front of me.

"Great Mikuru chan, that picture will certainly serve its purpose to warn future generations."

Once I finished rubbing my eyes, I could see Asahina san holding the camera and looking at the screen with a satisfied look on her face.

"Got stuck with photograph duty again Asahina san?"

She nodded and looked at me with her Angelical smile.

"Yes."

"Since she was so helpful during work the other day, I decided to entrust her with that responsibility again; listen up Mikuru chan remember to take a picture of everything I tell you to, since we are on a tour that means you'll have to follow me and have the camera ready at all times, ok?"

"Of course Suzumiya san."

It seemed like Haruhi was going to say something else but then the train slowly began to stop and one look at the window seemed to indicate we had arrived.

"This is it, please gather your personal belongings and follow me."

Unabara san appeared from behind us and quickly prompted us to get outside, once we did that we were in a train station on the Saitama prefecture, according to him this was the best place to enter the city since we would be near our hotel.

"Now we need to take a bus that will let us as close to the gates as possible, unfortunately all forms of public transportation are cut off from Academy City so this is the best we can do."

For some reason that comment seemed to get a lot of attention by our dear leader, personally I don't see what's weird about that, I mean after all the trouble she had to get us a tour here (much to our dismay), it's only natural that there aren't any buses that just drop you on the place directly.

"That too? Man you guys are really paranoid aren't you?"

"It's only necessary Suzumiya san, it's estimated that the technology in Academy City is about 30 years more advanced than the rest of the world, so as you can imagine there's a lot of interest on acquiring it by any means necessary."

Haruhi seemed to acknowledge that idea, but the index finger on her mouth indicated she still had doubts about that.

"I see, but then why aren't you guys as strict with the people that come out? I mean last month we got to meet several people from the city and they seemed to be going in and out as they pleased."

Unabara san smiled and tilted his head slightly to the side.

"That's correct Suzumiya san, usually Academy City is pretty strict with the people that leave, but last month someone hacked the city's database and not only did he crashed a few servers with important information about several student exchange programs, but also issued special permits for several thousands of people to leave the city any time they wanted for the whole month."

Someone hacking the city database to retrieve data about an exchange student and creating a way to go out of the city, probably to meet said student… I wonder who could that be?

"Wow! I think I've heard something about that from Komoe sensei the other day, but I didn't think it was be something so serious; so why didn't they cancel the permits? It shouldn't have been too difficult."

"From what I heard, a decision was made by the top brass to leave them valid, apparently someone thought that way they could catch the hacker when he tried to leave; but it was no good since most of the people that got a special permit wasted no time in using it and they can't just start arresting thousands of people at once for no reason."

"I see, I wonder what kind of person is that hacker? He must be really cunning to think something like that…"

Personally the one that really scares me is that Crowley guy, I mean his plan back then involved getting citizens from Academy City to meet Haruhi and a few days after it starts he gets an excuse to let thousands of people out of the city… if you take into account that his decision to transfer Touma was what caused it in the first place, then I have trouble believing everything happened by chance.

"Well Suzumiya san the bus is here, the trip is pretty short, so we should be at the gates of the city in around ten minutes."

A short bus trip and a little walk later, we were finally within the perimeter of Academy City.

"Everyone, I'm giving you a special laminated card that will serve as a temporal ID, please keep them safe, even though your information is already stored inside the city's database and a simple retina or fingerprint scan should be enough in most cases, this can act as a backup just in case and they double as a free souvenir."

The card in question was like pretty much every other ID card ever, it had our name, a picture some other common data and it also appeared to have a chip inside of it, nothing unusual at first glance.

"Well, let's go in!"

The process on getting into the city was fairly easy; they just scanned our new IDs, took a quick look at our info and let us through, all this while our luggage went through a security scanner like the one you´d see at an airport and that was it, so in less than a few minutes we were inside the city and I got to say… Wow! This place looks stunning; I mean just the city line in the distance when you're getting close is great, but seeing it from the inside the first time it's just breathtaking.

"Awesome…"

Yet the one whose breath was taken away completely was Haruhi, she just looked at the city with so much amazement and happiness on her face.

"Finally! We're here Kyon! We're finally here! "

She gave me a huge pat of the back before walking ahead and striking a cool pose complete with her pointing at the city and everything.

"Now everyone, we're off to conquer Academy City!"

"Of course!" You know seeing her so happy like this makes this whole trip worth it… eh… I mean we definitely won't be seeing any closed spaces for a while.

"Good to see you're still the same Haruhi san."

"Saten chan, Mikoto chan!"

And almost from out of nowhere, Saten san and Mikoto appeared in front of us.

"It's been a long time!"

Both friends got closer and greeted each other; funny you can see in Haruhi's face that she's really happy to see her and the feeling seems to be mutual.

"Yeah, it's nice seeing you and Mikoto chan too! But how did you know where to find us? I mean, you asked me about it but I didn't know which entrance we would use."

Saten san just grinned and made a peace sign with her hand.

"Misaka san figured out you'd use the one on district 3, since its closer to the hotels."

Mikoto san looked awkward when she said that for some reason.

"Really? Well done Mikoto chan! And where are Kuroko chan and Uiharu chan?"

"They're stuck on their judgment duties, but they'll join us when they finish."

"Judgment?"

"It's basically a city wide disciplinary committee; they take care of maintaining order and peace in the city and also handle other tasks such as community service and investigations; they're second only to Anti-Skill (which is kind of like the city's police force) in authority and all of their members are students that volunteer for the job, you can easily recognize them by the green stripped arm band with a shield they wear."

Unabara san quickly got near them and didn't waste a chance to show off his knowledge.

"Yeah what he said eh…?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Unabara Mitsuki, I was assigned by the general director to become Suzumiya san's tour guide."

Saten took a little step backwards, she seemed to be a little startled by his sudden appearance and extremely friendly attitude.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too."

Then Unabara san turned towards Mikoto san and just as he saw her, a weird smile really similar to the one he does when he sees Ichigo san appeared on his face.

"It's been a long time Misaka san."

"Yeah… hi…"

And Mikoto san seemed to be really uncomfortable with his presence…

"You guys know each other?"

Unabara san just smiled.

"Yeah, I'm the grandson of the chairman of Tokiwadai middle school where Misaka san studies, so we've met a few times."

"Yeah… something like that…"

Then Saten san directed her attention towards the rest of the group.

"Hi everyone, nice to see you're doing great…"

However she quickly focused on Ichigo san.

"Man, you sisters really look alike."

She got closer to her and grabbed her hands.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Saten Ruiko, I'm a big friend of your sister and I hope we can get along too Ichigo chan."

She just nodded.

"Nice to meet you too… Misaka introduces herself."

Saten san smiled at her.

"She speaks just like Nagato san; how cute!"

I think that's the other way around actually.

"Saten chan, there's another new member of the brigade you haven't met, allow me to introduce you to Kanzaki Kaori, she's my neesan that I've talked to you about."

Once she saw her Saten san got the 'I can't believe that woman is in high school' look that I probably got too when I meet her.

"Yes, nice to meet you Kanzaki san"

"My pleasure."

They both bowed and Mikoto san spoke next.

"Everyone, since we're all here why don't you let us give you a ride, I got us a limo and everything."

"Really? You shouldn't have bothered."

"Don't worry about it; now let's go!"

Mikoto san pointed at a nearby parked limo, it was pretty big and could definitely ride all of us around… also I think I see a familiar figure on the driver seat, but it's hard to tell since all the glasses were dark and I couldn't see the windshield clearly from here.

"Wonderful, Mitsuki san, can we?"

He just nodded and looked at Mikoto san delighted.

"Of course! I was originally planning to call a taxi so there's no difference. "

"Hurray!"

Haruhi and Saten san celebrated in unison and then ran together to the limo, once inside I noticed something weird, the glasses were really dark and you can barely see what's outside when they're closed…

"Can I open the window?"

Haruhi asked the driver through the microphone that supposedly let us speak with him (There was a dark glass separating us from the driver seat), then a voice came though the speakers that I'm sure I've heard somewhere before.

"As you wish ma'am."

Haruhi opened the window closest to her and began to look around.

"Man this city is just so stunning! The buildings, the streets, the windmills; everything looks so futuristic and mysterious!"

And so we began to move towards our destination, I must admit I was curious about the scenery myself, but as I was going to lower my window Nagato stopped me and then quietly shook her head… judging by how I'm seated opposite from Haruhi and if the driver is who I think it is, then I think I can guess why…

**The MISAKA network (part I).**

* * *

$\\10039\msg 'The target is opening the right side window as predicted... Misaka informs the state of the limousine.'

$\\13577\msg ´Great, all SISTERS on the designated route are in position, commence operation "escort" as planned... Misaka orders. ´

$\\10039\msg ´Remember, we have to focus on the side of the vehicle the target is in, Misaka 11111 and Nagato san will take care she only looks that way... Misaka reminds the basis of the operation.´

$\\15555\msg ´The vehicle is reaching my perimeter, all clear for now... Misaka reports her status.´

$\\18625\msg ´There're a couple of kids playing around with their abilities in mine, they're on the other side of the street, but I'll keep them in check... Misaka enters observation mode.´

$\\15555\msg ´The vehicle is completely out of my perimeter, moving along to prepare for the next trip... Misaka retires for now.´

$\\18625\msg ´The kids in question are waiting to cross the street, they're still playing with their abilities, asking for permission to use the program... Misaka follows the procedures.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Ok, permission granted! It's your turn Nagato san, is the first time we're testing this over wireless; are you ready? Ask Misaka as Misaka is eager to see results. ´

$\\Nagato\msg ´Yes... Nagato affirms.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Perfect, let's begin says Misaka as Misaka is anxious.

$\\Nagato\railgun_server –state ´listen´

$\\18625\railgun_client ´NagatoΦmisaka .net ´

* * *

**Back to the limo:**

As we rode along suddenly there was a little flash of light and the limo nearly stopped, only to accelerate again a few seconds later.

"Sorry for that, the street light changed back faster than I expected."

"No problem, all good here."

"Glad to hear that, a couple of kids on the sidewalk got a good scare though."

Haruhi quickly moved along and went back to sightseeing.

"Success… Misaka celebrates."

Huh? I heard Ichigo san saying something and when I turned to look at her, I noticed how her and Nagato's mouths were arching upwards a little... after that there wasn't any other incident on the trip whatsoever.

…

The hotel we were going to stay was a huge building with an equally huge garden, the driver let us off right in the entrance were we wasted no time getting into the lobby, the place was beautiful with tons of golden decorations and the floors were perfectly clean despite the fact that there were tons of people walking on it.

"I'm going to check you guys in, wait for me here please."

Unabara san went to the main desk were he just presented a couple of papers and got a few keycards before coming back to us.

"Ok, everyone, this are the keys to your rooms, the girls will be staying in the presidential suite #2 on the top floor, while Kyon san and Kozumi san will take two single rooms on the floor below; sorry the distribution is a little unfair, but as you can see the hotel is pretty busy right now so there was no helping it, even the other suite was taken."

One quick look around the lobby would tell that Unabara san was telling the truth, this place was almost full.

"Don't worry about it."

"It's fine."

"Koizumi kun, Kyon don't get to comfortable in those rooms, we are only going to stay three nights and I don't want to waste them in the hotel understood?"

We nodded acknowledging her words and then Unabara san got close so he could speak to her directly.

"Speaking about that Suzumiya san, the general director prepared a little event to welcome you into the city; but it's scheduled to start about an hour from now on, so if you wish you can go to your rooms for a little while."

"Great! About the event, there's no trouble if Saten chan and the rest of her group come with us isn't it?"

Unabara san looked at Haruhi and then at Mikoto san with a smile that was way too kind.

"Of course not, the more the better!"

Once he gave his permission Saten san got closer to him.

"Then would you mind giving me the address of the place we are going? I need it because two of our friends will join us there."

"Sure, give me a second."

Unabara san searched something in his phone and then showed it to her, upon seeing the screen a little grin appeared on Saten san's face.

"There? Great! Thank you Unabara san!"

"My pleasure."

"Do you know the place Saten chan?"

She just looked back at Haruhi with a little chuckle and teased her.

"Hehe, wouldn't you love to know…?"

"Ah come on…"

After that, we took a little time off to take our luggage to our rooms while Unabara san waited for us in the lobby, unfortunately since we were a lot of people and the hotel wasn't precisely empty, me and Koizumi had to take a different elevator than everyone else.

"Hey Koizumi."

"What's wrong Kyon kun?"

"The driver that was in the limo, was he…?"

"Arakawa san, that's correct."

"No wonder I thought I recognized the voice."

"Yeah, it seems that the operation to keep Suzumiya san happy and unaware is already in motion."

"Not that you'd have to do a lot to keep her happy."

"You´re right, Suzumiya san is the happiest I've seen her in a while."

Then the door opened and after a little walk I separated from Koizumi since his room was closer to the elevator than mine; once I arrived I opened the door and found… a pretty sweet looking room actually, I mean it's a little small and definitely not a presidential suite, but the bed seems nice, there's a TV almost the size of the wall hooked to a game system and a PC, the thing even has a private bathroom with a freaking Jacuzzi on it, this place is great!

"There you are!"

I've heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the door I foolishly let opened while I was checking out the room, I tried turning around to see who it was, but someone tackled me and pinned me down on the floor; then someone else walked into the room, closed the door and got in front of me, if I remember correctly she was the blond girl with the beret that was with Mugino the other day.

"Finally, it was pretty troublesome to find this chance, you know? Thankfully everyone is following the girl with the ribbons so nobody will notice if we disappear for a second."

I tried to move but it was no use, whoever was holding me was doing his job properly.

"Hold him still Hamazura, I want to have a little talk with this guy."

"Frenda, are you sure about this?"

She ignored him and kneeled down on the floor taking a good look at my face.

"I don't get it, what the hell does she sees in you? There's absolutely nothing even remotely remarkable about you."

Hey that hurts…

"What do you want? I talked with Shizuri and…"

"You talked with Shi… Shi… You just called Mugino by her given name! How dare you! We are her friends and we don't call her like that… hell I don't think her mother does!"

Ok, I definitely struck a nerve with that… well done me!

"But she told me to…"

"She did what?"

She was definitely about to snap back there, but she stopped herself.

"Give me your phone."

"Huh?"

"I said give me your phone!"

I know this must sound obvious, but I have to say it: 'scary girls with berets are **scary**'

"It's in my right pocket."

She quickly pulled it out and looked at the screen… also something really weird happened: as soon as she unlocked it, the led besides the camera turned on… pretty sure that isn't normal.

"I can't believe it! Takitsubo was right; she… she is dating you!"

"No… that's not true, we are not dating!"

"Don't lie! You were smiling like an idiot in this picture!"

"I wasn't smiling because I was on a date with her; I was smiling because she was pressing her boobies against my back!"

Man, talk about embarrassing, out of character stuff you can say in the face of danger… wait a minute why does it suddenly feels like someone just died in here?

"What… did you say?"

Great, that's two nerves struck in a row, I'm on a roll today.

"She… she was pressing… the… them against your back! Something so wonderful… defiled…"

'_Wedding march'_

Luckily, she stopped dead on her tracks when she heard that, I don't think I'll ever be happier of hearing that song, not even in my own wedding.

"You have the freaking wedding march as her ring tone!"

She took a long breath as she heard the phone ringing.

"Listen, you're going to take this call and talk to her like everything's ok, we'll continue with our little chat after that."

I didn't even have time to nod before she answered the phone and placed it on my ear.

"Hello."

"_Hi Kyon darling, how are you?"_

"I'm fine…'

"_Listen, could you please put the phone in speaker mode?"_

"What?"

"_Never mind, you probably can't, I'll do it for you."_

I heard a _'click'_ sound as her voice moved to the external speaker.

"_**Frenda!"**_

The girl with the beret got really scared and dropped the phone on the floor, thank god because my ear is resenting that yell.

"Mu… Mu… Mugino?"

"_Frenda… you know… I'm not mad at you."_

"You're not?"

"_Not at all, actually I admit this is partly my fault; I should have mentioned something about him before."_

"Yeah… you should've…"

"_Also, I should have known something like this would happen and prepared accordingly, you know me too well for me to try to hide it and expect to get away with it."_

"Yeah…"

"_Listen, I'm willing to explain everything and then let it go as if nothing happened."_

"Really Mugino? Would you forgive me?"

"_Of course I will Frenda, but first…"_

"First… what?"

"_Get… __**THE **__**HELL AWAY FROM MY KYON!**__"_

As soon as she yelled the girl with the beret fell on the floor and desperately got away from me as far as the room let her.

"_Good, another thing and you listen to this too Hamazura…"_

When she said that name, the person holding me let go and stood up.

"_If you hurt him or even worse try to take him away from me again, I will kill you… no hesitation, no questions, no nothing… I will just kill you… understood?"_

That's the Mugino I know, she's so scary even I am about to wet my pants and that threat isn't even directed at me.

"_Now could you please leave us alone? I want to talk to him for a little while."_

Both the girl with the beret and the person holding me left the room as fast as they could, not that I can blame them, heck I would run too but the psycho wants to talk to me.

"_Great, Kyon could you pick up the phone please? I'll switch it back to normal."_

The scariest thing of them all is how after threatening to kill someone, she can revert back to her sweet voice as if nothing happened.

"_Sorry about this little incident, are you hurt somewhere?_

"No… nothing serious, I'm fine."

"_Great, now don't worry about anything I'll make sure she gets the punishment she deserves."_

"Didn't you say you were going to forgive her?"

"_Yeah… after her punishment I will."_

You know I admit I'm not particularly fond of people that tackle other people in their hotel rooms or anything, but still I can't help but feel bad for the blond girl, I'm not even sure why...

"But that's no good Shizuri."

"_Eh… It's not?"_

"Yeah, come on… she's supposed to be your friend isn't she? She was just worried about you."

"_I… I guess so."_

"Listen, I want you to promise me that you won't punish her for this… actually promise me you won't punish any of your friends for anything, ok?"

"_O… Ok dear… I promise I won't."_

You know I hate to admit it, but it's kind of cute how she sounds like I just scolded her and I enjoy the little control I have over her… I even thought about teasing her a little and tell her 'I can't hear you' or something like that but I rather not press my luck.

"Excellent, another thing… you know I don't want to sound rude since I'm actually really grateful you helped me back there, but… how did you know I was in trouble?"

I heard a little chuckle coming from the speaker.

"_Didn't I tell you I made a few modifications to your phone? For an example a little device that tells me whenever is being used and whether it's you or someone else, I figured out it would come in handy one day."_

I'm guessing that's also how she turned on the camera and the speaker from a distance… Wait a minute, does that means she can stalk me whenever she feels like it? Just what did I got myself into when I saved this girl's life?

"_Well Kyon, I need to go now since the bastard must be getting suspicious by now."_

"Yes, I understand."

"_Ok then bye darling, see you when this is all over and it's time to reclaim my reward."_

After that she hung up. Great! we've only been in this place for about an hour and I've already been in mortal danger once, oh well, at least now I know I must be extremely careful with my cell phone, wouldn't want the yandere overlord to make it explode.

"Wow you were right Takitsubo! She really does like him! A little too much if you ask me… We were super lucky she didn't notice us."

Huh? It seemed another girl had sneaked into my room while I was distracted, she was the girl with the short brown hair that was with Mugino before; she looked at me and made a cute 'I'm sorry' expression.

"Sorry, I told Frenda and Takitsubo we should sneak out and have Hamazura drive us here to meet you, but I didn't think she'd take things so seriously."

She offered me her hand which I gladly took to help myself stand up.

"I'm Kinuhata Saiai and this is my friend Takitsubo Rikou, we're Mugino's partners from ITEM, its super nice to meet you."

She bowed a little and that was when I noticed there was another girl with short black hair together with her, she looked at me with a bored expression and nodded.

"Yeah… same here I guess."

Kinuhata san got closer to me and just like her blond partner did and took her sweet time inspecting my face.

"You know, on closer inspection is not bad at all… "

Then she chuckled and walked away.

"Sorry to leave like this but we've to go now... wouldn't want the guys of SCHOOL getting suspicious of us."

She just waved her hand and took her partner out of the room, closing the door behind them while I remained there standing like an idiot wondering about what the hell just happened.

'_Funeral march.'_

Great…

"Yes."

"_What the heck is taking you so long Kyon? Come to the lobby immediately or we'll leave without you!"_

'_Sigh' _I think I'm starting to hate cell phones.

…

A couple of minutes later I arrived at the lobby and unsurprisingly everyone else was already there and Haruhi was looking at me annoyed.

"You're late Kyon!"

"Sorry…"

She just sighed and looked at me as if I were a lost cause.

"Whatever; let's just go already."

Unabara san smiled at her.

"There's no need to rush Suzumiya san, the event won't start until you arrive; you're the star after all."

Ok, the grin that appeared on her face when she heard the phrase 'You're the star' it's epic; heck she even took a few seconds and made herself sound all important by clearing her throat.

"Anyway, we should get going regardless."

"Of course, should I call a taxi or does Misaka san has another limousine prepared for us?"

Once again Unabara san smiled to her which caused an awkward reaction on Mikoto san and for some reason that routine is beginning to bother me.

"I do, just that it's not another one but the same we used before… "

We got out of the lobby and into the limo and once again Haruhi opened the window closest to her (without asking for permission this time) while Nagato and Ichigo san prevented anyone for opening one on the opposite side.

**The MISAKA network (part II).**

* * *

$\\10039\msg 'The target is boarding the vehicle, commence operation "escort 2"… Misaka orders '

$\\10032\msg 'Sniper neutralized on building 34EF… Misaka informs'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'That's the third one we found on this route, please be extremely careful everyone, says Misaka as Misaka is worried about her underlings.'

$\\19090\msg 'The frequency of the attacks is increasing… Misaka comments about the situation.'

$\\15555\msg 'This Misaka has found and neutralized two landmines placed in the vehicle designated route… Misaka thinks they're taking this too far.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Any information about the attackers? says Misaka as Misaka is curious.'

$\\13577\msg 'They appear to be a mercenary force; but we haven't been able to obtain information about their clients yet… Misaka states the results of the interrogation so far.'

$\\18625\msg 'Why is the visual feedback from the SISTERS doing the interrogation disabled...? Misaka wonders.'

…

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Anyway, we have to be ready for anything: Nagato san, Guest san that means you, says Misaka as Misaka is confident on your abilities.'

$\\Nagato\msg 'Understood… Nagato nods '

$\\Guest\msg 'Same here…. Kimidori says overjoyed to be part of this operation.'

$\\10032\msg 'I'm in trouble, the attackers threatened a kitten to lure me out, I lost my weapon while trying to save him and they outnumber me 10 to 1… Misaka requests for back up.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'What? Those bastards! I'm sorry, back up is going to be impossible, the attacks are getting more frequent and the area we have to cover is too big, you're going to have to make do, says Misaka as Misaka is powerless.'

$\\19090\msg 'What about the kitten…? Misaka says worried.'

$\\10032\msg 'It's safe… Misaka says reassuring.'

$\\19090\msg 'Great… Misaka says relieved.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Ok, it's time for our first test in a real combat situation, are you carrying the object I told you? says Misaka as Misaka is checking the requirements.'

$\\10032\msg 'Yes, I retrieved the coin from the arcade before the mission… Misaka says while pulling it out of her pocket.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Then I guess it´s only appropriate that the lowest serial number alive has the honor to do this, says Misaka as Misaka prepares for the historical moment.''

$\\Nagato\railgun_server –state ´listen´

$\\10032\railgun_client ´NagatoΦmisaka .net ´

* * *

Misaka Imouto 10032 flipped the coin in her hands and then with a gesture that was just like Mikotos', used her augmented abilities to fire… for the first time ever for a SISTER… a 100% perfect railgun blast, completely surprising her opponents and taking them all out in one shot.

* * *

$\\10032\msg 'Complete success… Misaka celebrates.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Excellent, then I'm going to authorize the widespread use of the program, I have nothing else to say to you other than to remember the limitations and try not to overdo it, now… let's get the kitten haters! says Misaka as Misaka is pumped.'

* * *

**Back to the SOS Brigade**

We arrived at a large office building; it was kind of cool with hundreds of glass windows and a gigantic screen that was curiously showing swimsuit advertising; however I couldn't afford the luxury of enjoying the view as we had to enter the place, where we found the rest of Mikoto san's group.

"Uiharu chan, Kuroko chan!"

Haruhi, Mikoto san and Saten san got ahead of us to greet them.

"Good Afternoon Suzumiya san, everyone."

Uiharu san waved at us and then bowed.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you're all doing well!"

Shirai san made her greeting with perfect manners as you would expect from a high class lady, yet that attitude was quickly broken when she found her target, which surprisingly wasn't Mikoto san but Ichigo san, she got really close to her in an instant (without teleporting, she literally ran like 10 meters in less than a second) and took her hands in a way that made me and judging by their sweat drops everyone (Nagato and Ichigo san herself not included) feel uncomfortable.

"Oneesama's Imouto really looks the same… twin Oneesamas… the possibilities… they are endless!"

She was drooling and seemed like she was about to jump on Ichigo san but stopped dead on her tracks when she heard Mikoto san clearing her throat, this made her regain her composure and clear her own throat before speaking again.

"Sorry about that… It's an honor to meet you Ichigo chan, I'm your sister's best friend (and hopefully something more in the future) and I would _love_ for us to get along as good as I do with her."

She got her face even closer and I could swear I saw her winking at her.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too… Misaka introduces herself."

Ok, she's not letting it show, but Ichigo san just has to be feeling awkward after that, heck I do and everyone else seems the same as well.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Suddenly our attention was called by an office lady with short brown hair, Unabara san quickly got closer and spoke to her for a little while before they turned back to us.

"I see, so this is Suzumiya san… It's nice to meet you everyone."

She made a polite bow before turning her attention to Saten san and her friends.

"And it's nice seeing you again."

They quickly nodded and smiled.

"Same here!"

Haruhi seemed surprised but as she was about to ask them, Unabara san interrupted her.

"This is the person in charge of the company that owns this building, as a special request from the general director, the brand she represents is going to lend us the studio they use for photo shooting."

"Eh! We're doing swimsuit modeling?"

For some reason it seemed Saten san didn't seem to like that idea.

"Not at all, we're just going to let you play in the studio."

Then she and Uiharu san breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, Konori senpai was one thing, but… compared to those two."

They took a quick look at Asahina san and Kanzaki san chests before moving their gaze back to their own and sighing, eh… I hope nobody minds about this, but since I already got in enough trouble for saying something about that particular part of the female anatomy today I'm not going to make a comment about this.

"What do you mean? What's this about swimsuit modeling?"

Saten san snapped out of her predicament and turned her attention back to her friend.

"Nothing, it just there was one time we did some modeling for her brand, nothing special."

"Then what's the big fuss about the studio…"

Yet before she could finish her question, she was interrupted by what appeared to be a maid on top of a moving metal bucket.

"Welcome masters, I'm Tsuchimikado Maika a maid in training that will be at your service today."

The girl introduced herself politely while spinning around on the bucket thing; she didn't even appear to get dizzy at all and… wait a minute Tsuchimikado? isn't that the last name of the guy that caused this mess in the first place?

"Nice to meet you Maika chan."

Yet before I could wonder about that, Haruhi quickly introduced herself and then immediately turned her attention towards the thing she was riding, something I can understand quite easily since while the concept of a maid is nothing new, a moving metal bucket is pretty unknown to her.

"What is this thing?"

The girl stopped her spinning and raised her shoulders in a proud gesture.

"This is the Janitor Robot Type-464!"

"I see… So they really do have cleaning robots!"

She took a good look at the thing and then raised her head with a huge grin.

"Can I ride it?"

"Sure!"

She carefully got off the robot and Haruhi wasted no time getting on top of the thing and driving it around happily; as she did it Tsuchimikado san got closer to Mikoto san.

"Are you girls going to be part of the party too?"

"That's right… but I'm surprised, what are you doing here?"

"I was selected among the students of Ryouran Kaseijo Academy to take this job…"

Then she got a soft grin on her face but keeping her gentle tone intact.

"I'm so lucky… to be able to work with a legendary maid!"

What? You mean there're legendary maids…? Oh well I guess compared to everything that had happened so far, that's not as unbelievable as it sounds.

"Legendary maid? "

Judging by the look everyone has, I'm guessing I'm not the only one surprised by the existence of such a thing.

"Yeah, originally the job of the chief maid was going to be taken by one of our teachers, but this morning a legendary maid sent the academy an application requesting for a job and since this was the only one available, the teachers at school let her take it just so they could meet her, I heard even the chairman had to pull a few strings to let her into the city so fast."

"Wow! She must be an excellent maid then."

"Not exactly, you see Misaka, the rumors say that there're only 1 or 2 confirmed events where she worked as a maid, some even say that she never graduated or even attended a maid academy, yet for almost unknown reasons, she has been ranked on the top 10 for the best maids worldwide consistently for a few years and even managed to get the top spot twice including last year… that's why she's legendary!"

She placed her hands on her waist and raised her shoulders proudly, but she quickly dropped that posture as she heard a voice coming from a nearby elevator.

"That's no good Maika chan, taking behind other people's back is rude even if you're praising them."

She turned around and so did everyone as we heard that voice, even Haruhi got off the robot she was riding to see her.

"Mori san!"

Sonou Mori, the maid that took care of us during our stay in that island over the summer and a member of Koizumi's organization.

"Good afternoon everyone, it's nice to see you guys again."

She bowed slightly and smiled to us as Haruhi got a little closer to her.

"Mori san, what are you doing here? Did Keiichi san fire you or something?"

"No, the master decided to give me a couple of weeks of vacation and I wanted to meet this city, so I decided to request a job from the local maid academy to get the entry permission, luckily it seems I'm famous in here somehow, so the chairman gave me this job and even took care of the appropriate procedures."

"I understand, getting permissions to get in this place can be a pain!"

"You're correct Suzumiya san."

Haruhi smiled and then turned back to Saten san and the rest.

"Everyone, this is Mori san, she was the maid that took care of us during our summer trip."

She turned towards Mikoto san's group and made a polite reverence.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Sonou Mori, I'll be the chief maid of today's event and I hope I can be of service."

Mikoto san's group was taken aback by that performance and I have to admit… I mean no offence but the difference between Tsuchimikado san and Mori san as a maid it's obvious just looking at their introductions… God what am I saying now?

"Yeah… nice to meet you…"

She stepped aside to guide us into the elevator she just came out.

"Now let us begin, please come this way."

We followed her into the elevator and then into a giant white room.

"There's nothing here…"

True, but judging by the expression on the face of Saten san and the rest I'm guessing there's more to this room that appears at first glance… anyway the office lady quickly pressed a few buttons on a remote she was carrying and then… the room transformed into a freaking beach!

"Awesome…!"

Haruhi was once again speechless and so was the rest of the brigade (ok, Nagato and Ichigo san not included)

"This studio can take the form of any location you like."

She pressed several buttons again and the place changed again to a mountain, a school, a bath house and then back to the beach and everything not only looked but also felt like the real thing.

"This… this is…"

Haruhi slowly walked through the beach amazed carefully observing everything around her, she suddenly kneeled down of the floor and grabbed a little bit of sand.

"You can even touch it! How?"

"This is the latest technology in Academy City, we usually use this room for photo shoots since it saves a lot of money in travel expenses but today we're lending it to you Suzumiya san… Don't worry; the automatic camera system is completely disabled."

Yet most her words were falling on deaf ears, Haruhi was so distracted over this scenery that she just wasn't paying attention and I can't blame her, I'm every bit as amazed as she is.

"Well Suzumiya san, I've to go now, we prepared several items that you can use, so if you need anything please talk to Mori san and she'll gladly take care of everything."

Haruhi could only nod at her.

"Also before I leave, I'm entrusting this to you."

She grabbed one of Haruhi's hands and placed the remote on it.

"Huh?"

She looked at her with confusion; she definitely didn't know what was going on.

"Please play to your heart contempt and… Welcome to Academy City Suzumiya san!"

**War Report I**

Kamijou Touma quietly rested on a rooftop, his duty today was to keep watch in front of a building, something that proved to be far more difficult than he thought thanks to the constant swimsuit advertising showing on the giant screen trying to steal his attention; not like it mattered, the entire night had been pretty quiet so far and the only thing remarkable about it were the distant flashes of light that had been so common during the afternoon but now were slowing down.

"There's another one."

"That's correct… Kimidori says happily."

He wasn't alone in his job though, together with him was the girl that decided to move into his apartment yesterday and while being alone with a beautiful girl would be considered fortunate by many, the fact that she barely spoke and only resigned herself to keep watching him from the shadows wasn't precisely appealing to him.

"Kimidori san, might I ask you a question?"

"Sure Kamijou san, as long as it's something I can answer I'll be glad to do so… Kimidori says honestly."

"Why are you speaking like that?"

Now, while that manner of speech wasn't unknown to him, the fact that she suddenly started to use it about the same time the flashes of light began made him curious about it.

"It's a required communication protocol on the network… Kimidori says happy to be of service."

"The Misaka network? You can connect to it? Why?"

"Yes, I received the order to connect via the communication device a few hours ago; I've been using the protocols she defined to help with the rail gun emulation program… Kimidori says gladly."

To be honest, Touma was kind of bothered by her speech, it wasn't the pattern as he had heard the SISTERS using it ever since he met them, but rather how every time she spoke she only mentioned how happy she was regardless of the circumstances… it began to feel a little weird after a while.

"Is that what's causing those lighting flashes?"

Yet despite all this, talking to her was still better that sitting alone silently in the dark of the night.

"Yes, the program allow us to process the surrounding data to augment the power of an standard SISTER to that of a level 5, unfortunately since there's quite a lot of latency issues in the network, my presence is needed to ease the workload… Kimidori says joyfully."

"Latency issues?"

"The thing is that while is theoretically possible for her to take the workload of the entire operation without problem, the data transfer protocols and the bandwidth limit of the network make it so we're only able to keep a few steady connections at a time and a constant uninterrupted data flow is needed for the program to work, so while this limitations exists, the only way to increase the number of requests we're able to process is by having another instance of the program running on a different server… Kimidori explains overjoyed."

"I see… thank you Kimidori san."

"You're welcome Touma kun… Kimidori nods and smiles happily."

Touma sighed and went back to his duty, but it wasn't for long as he felt someone getting closer to his position, he turned around on his guard but quickly dropped it as he saw who he was.

"It's you Tatemiya."

"Yeah, I've come to replace you, your shift is over."

"Great!"

He stood up and prepared to leave, but before he did, he had to ask him something.

"Tatemiya… do you know something about the person that spoke to us yesterday? I noticed you didn't say anything on the meeting and since she was with Stiyl I figured out you might know her."

He chuckled a little before answering.

"That's classified information."

"Eh?"

"At least that's what she said every time I asked her something."

"So you've meet her before?"

"We did talk to her a few days before the meeting, she explained all the details of the plan to us and that's why we remained silent the whole time yesterday… you could say that our presence there was merely symbolical."

Touma was going to say something, but Tatemiya just keep talking.

"But, the way we talked to her was no different than the one we used yesterday, you know the only people that seem to have met her personally in the entire Church is that guy, the former supreme pontiff and the Archbishop herself."

"I see, I guess I'll ask Stiyl or Kanzaki the next time I see them."

"Sorry I couldn't give you more information about the woman that beautiful voice belongs to."

He chuckled a little before making a question of his own.

"Speaking about beauties… how is it going with the green girl?"

Touma sighed and turned around to see the smiling Emiri, who didn't seem to care they were talking about her.

"Well, luckily for me she's a wonderful cook so Index accepted her very easily and unlike her she helps with the chores if you ask her, but…"

"But?"

"Let's just say that she takes her mission of observing me **very** seriously."

"Just how seriously are we talking about?"

"As in: I've to make sure she doesn't follow me into the men's bathroom seriously or take her out of the room when I'm changing seriously… and even: I've to check the tub to see if she's not in there when I'm going to take a bath seriously."

Tatemiya couldn't help but to laugh at loud and mock him.

"That doesn't sound like a problem at all!"

"Hey don't laugh! The bites hurt like hell and that was only the first day…"

"_What the heck is wrong with this remote?"_

Yet his complaining was interrupted by a familiar voice coming from behind them, they turned around only to see the person they were trying to protect appearing on the giant screen… Suzumiya Haruhi, to make matters worse one quick look around the area revealed that this wasn't the only T.V. showing her, but rather every single public screen in sight had her on and if their eyes weren't playing tricks on them, some people at home were watching her too, add to this her voice being transmitted over the citywide speaker system and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire city was watching her right now…

"_I can't get it to show that scenario again!"_

She seemed to be pressing buttons at random in a remote as the scenery behind her changed into something that resembled the gym of the school Touma studied last month, but it had a stage in the back with several pieces of equipment including a drum kit on it, also he noticed there were several people he knew with her, like Misaka or Kanzaki… even Kyon san was in there and for some reason Touma couldn't shake the feeling that it was weird to see him from this perspective.

"_Ok, now to get the instrument."_

Suzumiya san retrieved a guitar from what appeared to be a maid off screen and took her place in the center of the stage.

"_Perfect, now let's go Yuki, Ichigo chan!"_

Then Tenshi san and a Misaka Imouto that Touma deduced was Ichigo san appeared on screen, but the most curious thing about this was that Tenshi san had a bass with her and Ichigo san seated in front of the drum kit… and they wasted no time using them, as almost immediately they began to play a song that Touma recognized as one from a local band of the town he lived in the past month.

_I run through with a thirsting heart…_

_I'm sorry_

_I couldn't do anything at all_

_Couldn't even share your pain_

_You wouldn't even let me..._

The two could only stay there completely unsure what to do or even if they should do anything at all, Tatemiya couldn't even bring himself to say what he was thinking out loud… '_Who would have thought God could sing so well?_'

_To live innocently, I never look back_

_I turn my back and depart_

_On the lonely rail!_

Not too far away from there, a girl from the future was looking at the present with nostalgia and she could only smile as she remembered the good old times that were so far away but so close at the same time.

_I 'm going to follow you through_

_No matter the pain_

_Though the darkness of this world if have to_

_Cause you'll be there to shine the way_

_Past the end of the future_

_Won't let weakness…_

…_break down my soul_

_My way…_

_I'll bring it all together now_

_God bless the two of us…_

Meanwhile number 2 and 4 were staring at their prey, but they weren't looking at the one on the screen… but at each other instead.

_You were there…_

_I was there and everyone else…_

…_had vanished_

_I picture the beauty of this fading dream…_

_While tracing over my scars!_

But the most delighted person on the audience was quietly floating in his glass tube, while this incident wasn't in his plans he couldn't help but to feel glee for the infinite potential that girl had.

_And so…_

_I'm going to…_

_Follow you through_

_No matter the pain_

_Though the darkness of this world if have to_

_Cause you'll be there to shine the way_

_Past the end of the future_

_Won't let weakness…_

…_break down my soul_

_My way…_

_I'll bring it all together now_

_God bless the two of us…_

Following these final words, Haruhi played the song's wonderful guitar solo almost perfectly and then calmly led it to the finale; once the music stopped, her audience both the one that was together with her and the one on the other side of the screen cheered on her hard as they could.

"_How was it? Did you like it? It was my first time playing the whole song as the main guitar so I…" _

She was a little sweaty and looked really happy…. No, saying she was happy was an understatement, ever since the culture festival a little regret remained on her heart… that she could've done more than what she did, so she practiced the guitar on her spare time waiting for a chance she could play it again in front of an audience… and this was it.

"_I… wanted to know what you think __about it."_

But there was no need for words, the look on the face of her friends was enough, they all looked at her, some surprised, some smiling, but it was clear they loved her performance.

"_It was great Haruhi san!"_

"_That's right you're amazing!"_

"_It was a wonderful song Suzumiya san!"_

"_Thank you everyone, it's called ´God knows 'and it's from the band ENOZ… you can download the original version on their website if you like… it's free!"_

"_Suzumiya san, do you hear me?"_

Then a voice that didn't seemed to belong to anyone on screen could be heard and it seemed nervous.

"_Yeah?"_

"_It seems there was a problem and… for some reason the automatic camera system malfunctioned and reactivated itself and… well, it also hijacked the emergency broadcast system somehow so… the entire city just watched your performance…"_

"_Really?" _

"_Yeah, they are still watching even now… but I… I'm really sorry!"_

Yet she didn't seemed sad or embarrassed, rather a huge grin appeared on her face as she took the microphone in front of her.

"_Academy City! Did you like the song? Well I hope you you're still listening because I've got something to say to you…"_

She took a second to breathe for air so she could yell the next lines as hard as she could.

**I'm Suzumiya Haruhi and I have no interest in ordinary humans; if there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, espers or magicians, come join me! THAT IS ALL!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm Suzumiya Haruhi and I have no interest in ordinary humans; if there are any aliens, time travelers, sliders, espers or magicians, come join me! THAT IS ALL!**

**Chapter 16:**

As soon as Haruhi said those familiar words the room became white like it was when we got here.

"I've shut down the entire system; we're off the air now."

Upon hearing that our dear leader looked around disappointed.

"Why? I hadn't introduced Yuki or Ichigo chan yet and I thought maybe I could play Lost my Music and then…"

"I'm sorry Suzumiya san, but we needed to stop the transmission as soon as possible and we just couldn't fix the camera system."

"But…"

As Haruhi went on arguing with the voice in the ceiling, I noticed Koizumi getting closer to Uiharu san.

"Excuse me, Uiharu san."

"What is it Koizumi san?"

"I was wondering about the emergency broadcast system that voice mentioned…"

She sweat dropped at his question before answering.

"Well… it's composed of several speakers located across the entire city, a T.V. signal that automatically shuts down all others once it activates and every public screen capable of displaying it; we use it to broadcast messages in times of emergency."

And then I could see Koizumi's smile stuttering for a second, but he kept it intact.

"I see… so I guess that means everyone really saw that just now."

"Of course! I once needed a sound file to be heard on the entire city so I got someone from Anti-Skill to…"

Then suddenly she stopped talking.

"…That means… _´Blush´ _they really saw… _´Blushes even more´_ Saten san!"

She ditched Koizumi and ran towards her friend red like a tomato and all teary.

"What is it Uiharu?"

"Saten san! You flipped my skirt on city wide T.V.!"

"… I… guess… so…"

Saten san sweat dropped unsure about what to do, but luckily for her Haruhi came to her rescue.

"Don't worry about that Uiharu chan, according to the voice from the heavens, the malfunction happened right before I started singing so nobody saw…"

And her words made Uiharu san calm down a little.

"…The little bear with a pink ribbon you're wearing besides us, so it's ok."

Or maybe not as thanks to her, Uiharu san remembered the little show she was forced to give for everyone but me that was standing right in front of her exactly like when we met her, although the lack of participation from Asahina san this time meant that I didn't felt anywhere as disappointed… no offence of course.

"So… everyone… _'sob' _everyone saw my…"

She started crying ; mumbling about how she was never going to get married while her friend tried to calm her down telling her how nobody paid attention to those things anymore, which for some reason only made her cry more.

"Suzumiya san, I'm afraid we're not confident on bringing the system back online without hiccups happening again, so we're going to have to end this for today; I'm really sorry!"

Haruhi just sighed and lowered her shoulders, but with a smile on her face.

"It's ok… we already did most of the things I wanted to do and I was starting to get tired anyway, if anything we're the ones that should be grateful to you for lending us this wonderful place, it was really fun!"

Yeah, I have to admit she's right, I had lots of fun! Personally my favorite's parts were when we played a live action role playing game; when she turned the room into a gigantic trampoline with no gravity and the talent show with her as the announcer and Koizumi, Nagato and me as the judges… It was so wonderful that just for that I'm glad I came to this city; I would have hated to miss all those wonderful moments!

"Thank you Suzumiya san, we were really glad to have you as our guest as well."

As the voice from the ceiling went on with the apologies I took the chance to get closer to Koizumi, I'm not really sure why since I got no idea what to say to him, but I kind of need to comment on the situation.

"So… she just told an entire city filled with espers to come join her."

"So it would seem."

"Do you think that's going to cause trouble?"

"For us? Most likely."

'_Sigh' _"What a way to start this trip don't you think?"

Contrary to my expectations he made a light chuckle.

"Yes, but with Suzumiya san we should have expected as much."

And I couldn't help but to chuckle too.

"I guess you're right… not like we can do anything about it."

"Ok everyone we're out of here."

A our leader declared we quickly followed Mori san out of the room and as we were riding on the elevator, Kanzaki san joined Koizumi and me in our conversation; luckily Haruhi was all hyped up talking about what just happened to Saten san and the rest that she didn't pay attention to us.

"What should we do now?"

"That's an excellent question, to be honest I doubt there's much we can do ourselves."

"I know that but…"

"Don't worry Kanzaki san, it's not the first time something like this happens and back then everyone thought she was just a weirdo so…"

"_Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya!"_

"Then again, last time wasn't in Academy City."

"_Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya!"_

As the door of the elevator opened we were greeted by the sight of a huge crowd that surrounded the building, luckily there was a line of police officers between us. (I'm assuming those are the 'Anti skill' people Unabara san mentioned before) and the crowd hadn't notice us yet.

"Awesome!"

Haruhi was completely startled, she definitely didn't expect something like this and it showed, which did not mean she wasn't enjoying it.

"Shirai san, Uiharu san!"

I noticed a girl with short black hair and glasses wearing the same arm band that Shirai san and Uiharu san had, she was waving at them right beside the office lady from this afternoon.

"Konori sempai!"

Both girls answered to her call before turning toward us and bowing a little.

"I'm sorry Suzumiya san but we're going to have to leave you guys for a while, that's our superior from Judgment calling us."

"It's ok…"

But Haruhi barely paid them attention as she was far too distracted by the crowd in front of her.

"_There she is!"_

Suddenly there was an uproar, as the crowd went crazy with excitement and started pushing the police line, slowly forcing them to move back, yelling the name of their idol as loud as they could.

"_Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya!"_

"What the heck do you think you're doing jan?"

A lady officer with blue hair tied in a ponytail appeared from behind Haruhi, quickly put a helmet on her and pulled her away from the window, as this happened another officer with green hair and glasses got in front of us.

"Follow me please…"

You know for a police (or Anti-Skill or whatever) officer she looks kind of unreliable; not that stopped us from doing as she said and followed her deeper into the building where her partner took Haruhi to hide.

"Are you out of your mind jan?"

She took the helmet out of Haruhi.

"We can barely contain them as it is, the last thing we need is their idol appearing to stir them up!"

Haruhi looked at the officer with blue hair confused; it seemed she still hadn't acknowledged what was going on around her.

"I don't get it, what kind of lunatic hijacks the emergency broadcast system to sing a song and then tells the entire city to come join her! I should…"

"Calm down Yomikawa san."

The office lady from this afternoon quickly got in between Haruhi and the officer and bowed.

"What happened was a malfunction on our camera system; Suzumiya san is not to blame about this matter."

"But…"

"I must apologize on behalf of our brand, this entire incident is our fault and we'll take full responsibility for it."

You know, even I can tell that lady is way too insisting on keeping Haruhi out of trouble… a special guest from the general director indeed.

"Even so, she didn't have to yell 'Come join me!' on city wide T.V.!"

"But the crowd was already starting to form before that, so like I said it's not her fault."

Speaking about that, I wonder how all that people found out our location, I mean Haruhi didn't say anything about it and the stage she was singing looked a lot like the gym in our school, so a crowd forming out so fast makes no sense.

'_Sigh'_ "Ok, I'll let her go with just a warning this time jan, but…"

Yet when she turned back to Haruhi, she wasn't where she left her but rather back on the door of the building looking at the crowd and waving.

"_Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya! Su-zu-miya!"_

"This is awesome Kyon! I didn't expect so many people to come!"

"I'm so going to have nightmares about this jan…"

I think I can sympathize with her… Anyway the officer with blue hair sighed and face palmed a little before dragging her back.

"Listen ´Suzumiya san´, we're having trouble keeping things under control here, so we need to evacuate you guys as fast as we can, understood jan!"

Haruhi just looked at her and sighed.

"Ok, ok I understand."

"Great! Now how am I supposed to get you guys out of here?"

"We can help with that!"

Shirai san and Uiharu san came back with the girl with short black hair and glasses.

"Everyone this is Konori Mii, our superior from judgment."

Konori san got in front of us and made a polite bow.

"Nice to meet you everyone, as you know currently there is a huge crowd outside, but I managed to observe that they're only surrounding this building, luckily for us since it's on a corner the area the crowd has to spread itself it's pretty big so they haven't got the need to surround the building next to this, if we take that into account all we have to do is go to the last building of the block and we can leave without being noticed."

Well that sounds pretty good to me, but the officer seemed to have something to say.

"But, we how are we going to get to there, for what I can tell these building don't seem to be connected…"

Yet as she was voicing her concerns, she was interrupted by Shirai san.

"That's where I come in, I'll te…"

"Kuroko!"

Misaka san interrupted and stared at her as a tense atmosphere was beginning to appear.

"But Oneesama, this is an emergency situation and…"

"What if we use the parking lot?"

Mori san interrupted both girls; she got closer to the officer with the blue hair.

"I was informed that the parking lot between all the buildings on this block is shared, so there should be an exit we can take to get behind the crowd, not to mention that I gave instructions to the driver of their limousine to park there when he told me he needed a place to wait."

The officer with blue hair nodded.

"Great, that sounds like a plan, we can go down there through the elevator can we?"

"Yes, I believe we can."

"Great, lead the way jan!"

As Mori san once again guided us to the elevator, Shirai san looked at her with suspicion.

"Ara ara Mori san, I wonder how do you know so much about this complex if you only got into the city today?"

Mori san answered her with a smile that was way too kind.

"It's the job of a maid to know everything beforehand and always be prepared for anything Shirai san."

Shirai san was kind of taken aback by her words and looked like she had just been scolded.

"This is what a legendary maid is like! Isn't she awesome Shirai?"

"Yeah… I guess…"

We followed Mori san into the elevator and then she guided us through the parking lot to the limo, as we were walking, Koizumi got closer to Maika san for some reason.

"Excuse me, Maika san?"

"Yeah, what is it Koizumi?"

"I was wondering about your last name… are you by some chance related to Tsuchimikado Motoharu?"

As soon as she heard that name she smiled.

"Yeah, I'm his step sister; do you know aniki?"

"We go way back… but if you're his sister, don't you think he might get worried about your wellbeing?"

"I doubt he knows I'm here; this job was confidential so I didn't told him the details…"

"I see, well then please tell him I said hi."

"Of course!"

Then he carefully whispered something to himself.

"That's right, he's not the kind of person to put his sister in danger; but if he didn't knew she was going to be here then maybe…"

It seems the mystery of how did the crowd found out about us was bothering Koizumi as well.

"We've arrived."

Mori san stopped right on the side of the limo and opened the door.

"Please get inside."

We did as she told us and quickly got into the limo, however some people had to stay behind.

"We'll stay here with Konori sempai to monitor the situation."

Shirai san and Uiharu san bowed.

"And we still need to clean up, so please go on ahead without us."

Mori san and Maika san bowed as well.

"Ok, we'll see you tomorrow then Kuroko chan, Uiharu chan and thanks for everything Mori san, Maika chan."

After Haruhi said her goodbyes the rest of us did so as well and no sooner than later we were on our way back to the hotel.

"Why doesn't this work?"

And as were riding, Haruhi tried to open the window but was unable.

"_T__he Anti-Skill officer gave me strict instructions to be as discreet as possible; I'm really sorry Suzumiya san but I had to disable the windows controls… she got my license number and I could get it revoked if I disobey."_

Haruhi just sighed and pushed the button to talk to him.

"It's ok I understand… man is that ´jan´ woman a party-pooper or what?"

I don't know, considering you probably made her lifespan 10 years shorter today I think she behaved rather nicely… oh well guess all I can do now is to enjoy the trip.

**The MISAKA network (part III).**

* * *

$\\10039\msg ´The vehicle is coming through the designated exit… Misaka reports the mission status.´

$\\19090\msg ´Just like that woman predicted… Misaka says wondering about her.´

$\\18625\msg ´Her actions make no sense, we could have used our enhanced abilities to do something about that transmission just now… Misaka says puzzled.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Can't do anything about that says Misaka as Misaka resigning herself, we agreed to follow her commands to the letter and she said to just sit back and enjoy the show says Misaka happy as Misaka thought the song was nice.´

$\\10039\msg ´Yes it was… Misaka shows her agreement.´

$\\15555\msg ´I concur… Misaka thinks we're getting sidetracked.´

$\\18625\msg ´There's no need to worry, both windows are closed this time, it´s past curfew and all the threats have been neutralized… Misaka says calmly.´

$\\10032\msg ´The vehicle just exited my perimeter… Misaka says tired.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Yeah, we might have overdone it with the program says Misaka as Misaka looks at the reports she's getting. But tiredness seems to be the only side effect so far says Misaka as Misaka schedules a few medical checkups.´

$\\13557\msg ´Interrogation is proceeding with the captured members; everyone else was handed to the authorities, there were approximately 4800 enemies turned to Anti-Skill … Misaka reports the result of the battle. ´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Great! There were no casualties at all and no injuries from our side, considering there were less than a hundred SISTERS participating on this operation it was an incredible success, it's all thanks to you Nagato san says Misaka excited as Misaka wants to try the program for herself.´

$\\Nagato\msg ´You're welcome… Nagato says happily.´

* * *

**Back to the hotel.**

"Well Haruhi san, this is it for today, we have class tomorrow so we'll meet in the afternoon."

"Bye Haruhi san, Ichigo chan see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah bye; take care on the way home."

We got to the hotel pretty easily, it seemed this location hadn't been leaked yet and it was pretty deserted for some reason… anyway we said our goodbyes to Saten san and Mikoto san as we prepared to go get some rest.

"Suzumiya san, I'll be at the lobby tomorrow at 7:00 am, we'll be starting our tour of the city and we have kind of a tight schedule, so please be on time."

"Of course we will Mitsuki san!"

She glared at me before saying goodbye to our guide; he was going to catch a ride with Saten san on the limo back to his home, an idea he was far too happy to propose and Mikoto san didn't seem too eager to comply… just what the heck is going on between those two?

"Bye, see you tomorrow!"

After that we finally were done for today and it was time to get some well-deserved rest.

"Well everyone… now we go to our suite to have a party!"

Or maybe not.

"Come on Kyon, let´s go already!"

I turned around to find Haruhi and the rest already on the elevator.

"Wait for me!"

"If you don't get in you'll have to use the stairs!"

After that little incident I managed to get on the elevator on time, we got to the top floor and entered Haruhi´s suite… man this place makes my room looks like a dump, it's like someone build a castle inside a hotel… I mean the thing has a pool and a movie theater for crying out loud!

"Now everyone, let's party! According to the pamphlet I got from Unabara san this place it's equipped with the most advanced technology in entertainment Academy City has to offer and I want to check all of them out!"

Following those words we played with the game console on the room, watched a movie and few other things; yet I must admit that while everything is pretty impressive on this place, most of the stuff we had here is not **that** different from the ones back home, that doesn't mean they weren't neat, but after the hologram room this afternoon I kind of expected more… oh well, I suppose it makes sense that if the city is focused on academics they don't pay too much attention on entertainment.

Anyway once Haruhi got tired of playing it was finally time for us guys to go back to our rooms.

"Goodnight everyone…"

"Bye Kyon, koizumi kun see you tomorrow!"

"I hope you have pleasant dreams."

"Good night."

The other two girls just nodded and kept reading, so we got out of their room and into the elevator.

"Today was kind of a hectic day don't you think Kyon kun?"

"You know, despite everything that happened I don't feel tired or stressed at all… maybe it's because we spent the whole later part of the day playing."

Seriously, I even forgot about the whole 'ending life as we know it' the 'get on the bad side of scary girls with berets' and even the 'my entire life is being monitored by a yandere overlord' thingies for a while and enjoyed the trip.

"Actually I think that's because the burden of keeping an eye on Suzumiya san it's not on us this time."

"Yeah maybe… speaking about that, I wonder how did they react to seeing Haruhi on screen? I can't imagine it made them too happy."

"Me neither… '_chuckle_' Well this is it, see you tomorrow Kyon kun."

"Yeah, good night."

I left Koizumi in his room and got into my own, luckily there were no incidents this time so I just relaxed and tried to watch a little T.V. before sleeping...

"_I believe the questions the entire city is asking right now is, just who is Suzumiya Haruhi? Where does she come from? And more importantly why should we join her?"_

"_Well, I believe the only thing we can say to that is… God knows."_

I'll try another channel.

"_It seems the Suzumiya fever has taken over Academy City, just a couple of hours after her debut and we're already receiving reports of her video getting more than 100.000 downloads and it keeps getting closer to a million views."_

"_She's also gathering a huge fan base, only minutes after her song ended an official fan club had already been created and it currently reports having more than 15.000 and counting active members eagerly awaiting their idol."_

How about another one.

"_Suzumiya Haruhi is a Goddess, the only thing that would have made her more heavenly would´ve been a bunny suit… a red bunny suit!"_

I wonder who thought it was a good idea to show the guy with the blue hair and the piercings on T.V.? Let's just try another channel.

_You were there…_

_I was there and everyone else…_

…_had vanished_

_I picture the beauty of this fading dream…_

_While tracing over my scars!_

Maybe I'll just go to sleep; I'll worry about this tomorrow… You know, I look kind of weird from that perspective.

**Room 237:**

On the same hotel ´that person´ was currently staying, a red haired magician that looked far too old for his age was resting and preparing himself for tomorrow.

"Stiyl? Are you there?"

But his attempt to catch some sleep was interrupted by a voice that came from a talisman on his bedside table.

"Yes?"

"Did you finish the task I gave you?"

"Sure, it wasn't an easy job, but I managed to place all the Opila runes and create an empty area around the hotel that only the people related to it and that V.I.P. list you gave me can enter."

"Wonderful! Now about the other thing we talked about…"

"Yes, I've been inspecting the blueprints you sent me and it's completely doable, I already finished the plans and prepared the materials we need."

"Great! I'll send someone from the Amakusa Catholics to pick them up right away; they'll be the ones in charge of executing the plan."

"Mind if I ask why do you need something like this? And more importantly where did you get all this information? There's no way this was easy to obtain."

He looked at the laptop she gave him, the screen displaying a 3D simulation of Academy City down to the smallest detail; it even had a mode that allowed him to see the architectural plans of the buildings; needless to say that for some people this information would be invaluable.

"Stiyl that is…"

"Classified information… I got it."

"That's right! Well I've to go now, remember to take care of the other thing I asked you."

"Leave it to me…"

The transmission from the card ended just in time for Stiyl to hear a knock on his door, he reluctantly stood up to open it and found none other than Tatemiya Saiji and a couple of other members of his church.

"How is it going?"

"Fine I guess, enjoyed the show?"

"Of course, I watched it on a giant screen… man who would have thought the Goddess could sing so beautifully, it was heavenly I tell ya!"

"That's to be expected."

"Of course… do you have the stuff ready?"

He just nodded before giving him a disk he pulled out from the laptop he had.

"Sure, I marked all the necessary spots on this thing and I got all the materials right there."

Then he pointed at three huge boxes from a local copier center stacked at the back of his room.

"Great!"

Tatemiya made a sign to his partners and together they picked up the boxes.

"Man are this things heavy… we're going to have a lot of work tomorrow."

"I can imagine, listen they're laminated so you can paint or cover them if you have to, but I need them to be on the precise location."

"Don't worry, don't worry… we'll take care of everything."

He made a light chuckle but then changed into a serious expression.

"Hey… do you have any idea where does she get all this information? Or even why does she needs something like this?"

Stiyl just pulled out a cigarette from his robe and answered him while he lighted it.

"Take a guess."

"Classified information?"

"As usual."

Tatemiya just sighed and made a sign to his boys to leave.

"Whatever, I just hope she knows what she's doing."

"So do I…"

Stiyl took a long sip at his cigarette before saying goodbye to the Amakusas and going back to try to get some sleep, but no matter what he did his mind always ended up wandering towards his next assignment.

"I really do hope she knows what she's doing."

**The next day:**

'_Funeral march'_

"_You're late Kyon! Where the he…"_

"I'm here!"

"_Huh?"_

Haruhi turned around surprised and made a little jump; luckily for me despite that everyone had already arrived I managed to get here before she reached her breaking point.

"There you're Kyon, ready to go?"

"Sure!"

Once I said hi to everyone, Unabara san got on the middle of the group so he could give some instructions.

"Everyone today is the tour day so I'd like to explain out itinerary."

"Before we begin Unabara san, about what happened yesterday with the crowd and everything… is it safe for Haruhi san to go around the city? The last thing we need is another incident like yesterdays'."

Kanzaki san seemed a little nervous but Unabara san just smiled to try to calm her.

"Don't worry Kanzaki san I understand that you're worried about Haruhi san's wellbeing but we shouldn't have trouble with that today, as you know most of the population of Academy City are either students or personnel related to academic activities, so the streets shouldn't be too crowded until school's out, I'll contact Anti-Skill to give us a hand after that."

"I see…"

She seemed unconvinced but Kanzaki san nodded regardless.

"So like I was saying, our itinerary today is pretty simple, we'll take a special tour bus the general director got for you and give you a quick spin around the city. We'll have several programmed stops to check a few interesting spots like: an exhibition with the newest technology in Academy City and a shopping stop on the underground mall then when we finish, if we got time we'll go to the recreational facilities on district 6."

"Great! Let's go then!"

He guided us outside where a tour bus was waiting for us; he got closer to the thing and pressed a button on a remote he was carrying so the door would open.

"Please come in!"

Once inside the bus the first thing we all noticed about it was that there was something really important missing.

"Where's the driver?"

Unabara san just smiled.

"This bus is equipped with the latest technology in G.P.S. and autopilots on the city Suzumiya san… we don't need a driver."

He pushed another button on his remote and the wheel, the pedals and even the gear lever began to move by themselves, slowly driving the bus away from the hotel.

"See."

"That's awesome! Mikuru chan, take a video of that!"

"Yes!"

Haruhi dragged Asahina san all the way to the driver seat, carefully admiring the wonders of self-operating machinery.

"Hey Mituski san, if the buses can drive themselves then why do you even have controls on them?"

"Well there're two reasons, first the bus has to remain operational in case of a malfunction on the autopilot system and…"

"And?"

He just chuckled and smiled to her.

"It looks pretty cool don't you think?"

Haruhi laughed a little.

"You got that right."

"Well Suzumiya san, I know you're interested on the autopilot, but if you girls don't go back to your seats you're going to miss the scenery."

Haruhi just nodded and dragged Asahina san back to their seats so she could look out the window… oh well guess I'll follow her example and just relax and enjoy the view.

**ITEM Vs. SCHOOL (Part I)**

'_Ring tone'_

Currently two underground organizations of Academy City were gathering on a neutral hideout waiting for the time to make their move.

'_Ring tone'_

"Could you pick up the goddamn phone already?"

Mugino rolled her eyes at the bastard that was giving her orders before picking up her cell so she could get yelled by the bastard that wanted to give her orders.

"What the hell do you want?"

"_Finally! I was beginning to think you had taken another vacation."_

And despite the call wasn't on the speaker, everyone could hear the whole conversation.

"Are you still sore about that? I told you already, if we want to go on a vacation we'll go on a vacation and we don't give a crap if you like it or not!"

"_The hell do you think you are kid…? Do you have any idea of the kind of situation you put me through, I was lucky those assholes of SCHOOL decided to back out on the assassination of Oyafune Monaka for some reason… actually now that I think about it you're with them right now aren't you?"_

"Yeah, we have been together since yesterday."

"_Could you ask them why did they back out of that? Without ITEM on the city I doubt it would have been much trouble to do it."_

"You ask them! That's none of my goddamn business."

"_That's exactly what I'm going to do! Hey I know you can listen to me…"_

Yet the call was lost when the bastard snapped the phone out of Mugino's hand and hanged it.

"The hell is your problem? First you tell me to pick up the phone but now you do that… make up your freaking mind already."

The bastard didn't even answer her and just toss her phone back.

"Hey watch it! They don't give these things away for free you know?"

"Just shut the hell up already!"

Mugino backed out a little, not because she was scared mind you, but because she just wanted to get on with this.

"Whatever, so are we going to proceed as scheduled?"

The guy just chuckled at her apparent withdrawal.

"Of course we are! Or are you scared about what happened to those idiots yesterday?"

Last night, nearly 5000 mercenaries hired by another underground organization were handed to Anti-Skill by some unknown group, no one knew how they had gotten into the city and there were only rumors about how they've been captured; but the most important thing was that while the official reports just mentioned they were after some VIP, it was common knowledge among the dark side that they have failed to do what SCHOOL and ITEM were going to attempt today.

"The hell I am!"

"So then we stick to the plan… any objections lady?"

"Yeah, why do we have to kidnap some idol wannabe?"

"Don't know and don't care, maybe our client wants us to escort her into his bed or something; it's none of our business anyway, anything else?"

"Nope."

"Great, then we move out!"

Then she reluctantly gathered her coworkers to go on with the mission as she tried her best to suppress the smile on her face; that narcissist bastard was going to get what was coming to him and she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

**The Exhibition hall:**

After little more than an hour we arrived at a huge exhibition hall, the thing was on the same district as our hotel but we made a really large detour so we could do some sightseeing, I have to say, the city really does live up to his name, there lots of schools, colleges and research institutions on this place and according to Unabara san we've only scratched the surface so far.

"Everyone please wait for me here, I'm going to get the tickets.'

"Sure!"

As Unabara san left to the ticket booth, I took the chance to admire the view, but I was unable to as Haruhi got closer to me, for some reason there was something odd about her.

"Hey Kyon…"

Haruhi whispered at me trying her best so that no one would notice, I decided to play along and do the same.

"What?"

"Do you know if something happened between Yuki and Ichigo chan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… You probably didn't notice because you were late…"

She stopped to glare at me.

"But this morning while we were waiting for you, Yuki called Ichigo chan by her full name."

"Huh? I thought she was on a first name basis with her?"

"She was… I don't get it, everything was fine yesterday but when I woke up they've been acting kind of strange… also I can't quite put my finger on what but there's something wrong about Ichigo chan today."

"Something wrong…?"

I looked at them and while they appeared to be reading as they always did, a couple of things did call my attention: first they were 'slightly' out of synchrony something that I only remember happening when Touma's transfer was announced; second and this one might just be nitpicking on my part but Ichigo san was wearing a heart shaped necklace and I've never seen her wearing an accessory besides the one on her hair.

"…_During the trip I might be absent for a day since I need to go to the hospital for a medical checkup… Misaka states a problem."_

"…_I talked with the system administrator and she authorized another Misaka to take my place on that day, so you shouldn't notice any difference… Misaka says encouraging."_

That's right! That must be the one Ichigo san's sisters taking her place.

"I don't see anything particularly weird about her."

"You don't…?"

"Maybe she's just a little tired from the trip."

"Maybe… But what about Yuki then?"

"Don't know, but if I were you I wouldn't worry about that, even if something happened between them is better if we just let them… those two are really good friends so they'll work it out."

"Yeah… I guess you're right…"

You know I feel ashamed of myself, Haruhi noticed the difference between Ichigo san and her sister with a necklace whereas I remain oblivious to it until she pointed it out; and to think Ichigo san told me about it before hand… still that was quite a slip up Nagato; but I guess I can sympathize with her, after all friends are not interchangeable even if they're similar.

"Hey Kyon! Stop daydreaming and move already!"

Huh? I turned around only to find everyone at the gates of the hall.

"Wait for me!"

"Seriously Kyon, you need to start paying more attention."

I didn't answered her and just took my ticket from Unabara san; once inside I could take a good look at the entire exhibition, according to the flyer we got at the entrance this one was about Academy City's aeronautical research.

"Welcome everyone!"

As soon as everyone got inside we were greeted by a familiar girl in a weird uniform that kind of resembled a stewardess but without the hat.

"Everyone this girl is going to take care of you for a while and guide you through the exhibition, please follow her every instruction and we'll meet back on the exit when you're finished."

Unabara san quickly pointed at the girl and left, she by her part just bowed nervously.

"I'm Itsuwa it's a pleasure to meet you."

She was the same girl that nearly cuts my neck the other day (ok, it was partially my fault for eavesdropping); she looked really nervous but managed to say her lines properly.

"Nice to meet you too Itsuwa san."

Yet for some reasons I can only guess, she nearly panicked and even dropped a little tablet she was holding when Haruhi spoke to her.

"So… Sorry! It's my first day on this job, so I'm kind of nervous."

"It's ok, don't worry about that."

Haruhi picked up her gadget and handed back to her.

"Here you go, I hope it didn't break."

Itsuwa san reluctantly grabbed back her tablet with the shakiest hand I've ever seen and then checked something on it before breathing a sigh of relief and turning back to us with a smile.

"Yeah its fine, thank god I was scared since I haven't memorized all my lines and I have them all on this device."

Kanzaki san made a little chuckle and then talked to her with an earnest voice.

"Great, now just relax I know dealing with these kind of jobs can be stressing at first but you'll get used to it in no time."

"Yes, thank you ma'am!"

Itsuwa san took a deep breath and then smiled back at us.

"Ok then follow me please, we'll be looking at some of the newest technology Academy City has developed in the aeronautical field."

"Sure!"

First she took us towards what appeared to be some kind of helicopter.

"This is the HsAFH-11; it's a special type of helicopter that uses rocket engines to generate speeds of match 2.5."

"Wow!"

Haruhi was completely amazed; Itsuwa san sweat drooped a little at her enthusiasm which is great because it meant she was relaxing.

"Its design is so revolutionary that there's some questioning among its creators over whether or not you can even call this a helicopter anymore."

"I thought so."

I noticed Koizumi got closer to our guide.

"Itsuwa san, can I ask you something?"

"Of course!"

"I was wondering about the form factor, it kind of looks like it has six wings."

She just nodded to acknowledge his question and smiled.

"Yeah, I was told that's because it was made with military use in mind, apparently it allows to fire at different positions or something like that."

"I see…"

"Yeah, the design choices for a lot of the vehicles we have here might seem a little weird at first, but that because these are military models that had their guns removed for safety reasons."

"That makes sense Itsuwa san, wouldn't want an accident happening."

We all nodded at Koizumi's words and so we moved towards the next exhibition of what appeared to be a giant fighter jet.

"This is the HsF-00 it's an 80m fighter plane that can fly at 7000km/h, it's capable of several dangerous acrobatics like flying sideways while keeping the integrity of the frame intact; the g force generated by the plane it's so intense that the pilots have to be frozen over at -70 degrees Celsius and several machines have to be attached to them just so they can survive."

"Awesome! And a little creepy too…"

"Wow! Is Suzumiya Haruhi!"

Right behind us a few children had gathered, they all seemed to be around the same age as Uiharu san or maybe a little younger, but sadly most of them were on wheel chairs or crutches.

"Huh?"

"Wait everyone… It's rude to call people you don't know like that."

And together with them was this weird woman, she had brown wavy hair and a couple of medium sized bags under eyes.

"Its fine, I don't mind."

"Really? See Kiyama sensei she doesn't mind!"

The woman looked at the children and then back at Haruhi.

"Thank you!"

But before Haruhi could answer her, one of the children moved her wheel chair closer to her and handed her a notebook and pen.

"Suzumiya san, could you give me your autograph please?"

She smiled tenderly and grabbed the girl´s notebook and pen as she kneeled.

"It'd be my pleasure, who should I dedicate it to?"

"I'm Edasaki Banri."

"Ok Banri chan!"

She carefully signed the notebook and then gave it back to her.

"There you go!"

"Thank you Suzumiya san! I hope you have lots of success in your career!"

She nodded at her and then looked at the rest of the children and smiled again.

"Of course I will! Now, anyone else wants an autograph?"

All the children raised their hand and cheered.

"Ok, then I'll sign one for everyone!"

Haruhi raised her fist as she said that before turning towards our guide.

"Sorry Itsuwa san but there's no trouble if…"

She just smiled at her and nodded.

"Not at all Suzumiya san, please take all the time you want."

After that Haruhi signed autographs, took pictures and even chatted a little with the kids, it was like being a celebrity was natural for her; and she wasn't the only one that got attention, Nagato and Misaka san had to sign several autographs too, while a few precocious boys took the chance to have their pictures taken with Asahina san, Itsuwa san and Kanzaki san; there were even a couple of girls after Koizumi as well.

"Excuse me, can I get your autograph?"

And just when I was starting to believe I'd be the only one left alone, I got the chance to sign an autograph for… the lady with the bags under her eyes.

"Eh… sure…! I guess… Who should I dedicate it to?"

"Kiyama Harumi."

As I was signing the thing she began a conversation.

"She really is something special… that girl, the kids greatly enjoyed her song yesterday so they were really excited when they saw her on the distance and she's so nice to them it's almost hard to believe."

"Yeah, she's that kind of person… are you those kids´ guardian?"

"Something like that…"

"I see, well here you go Kiyama sensei, be careful with those bags under your eyes."

She just chuckled.

"It's pointless I lost these bags once but they just popped right back… taking care of children is not easy."

Then she turned back at the children and waited till they all had a turn with their idol.

"Well kids, we must go now; we've already bothered Suzumiya san and her friends enough and we need to continue with our fieldtrip."

The kids just looked at her and yelled cheerfully.

"Yes Kiyama sensei."

Then they all turned towards us and bowed.

"Thank you Suzumiya san!"

Haruhi just smiled and waved at them as they left.

"There's nothing to thank me for; anytime you want!"

Then she looked at Itsuwa san smiling.

"Well… let's continue with the tour shall we?"

She just smiled and nodded.

"Sure!

**ITEM Vs. SCHOOL (part II)**

"She's late!"

Frenda was currently on the last floor of an abandoned building waiting for their 'target' to arrive.

"You're right… I wonder if something happened to her."

The person she was complaining to was one of the guys from SCHOOL, some sniper by the name of Sunazara Chimitsu, no one important really, yet he was a key piece of their 'plan' to capture the girl.

"Maybe someone got to her first?"

"Doubt it… we would've found out by now if that happened."

"I see… well then, here's your stuff, I'm going back to my post."

She left a bag filled with snacks right beside him, yet before moving on she wanted to ask him something.

"Hey… how does it feel to work with the people that killed your predecessor?"

He didn't even flinched at her question and just kept looking out the window... waiting.

"It doesn't feel like anything in particular, if you killed him it's because he was careless, all I have to do is not make the same mistake."

"I see…"

Frenda just walked away at his answer; to be honest she could understand his confidence since the way the plan was laid out gave SCHOOL a really comfortable position, it worked like this:

1- The bus the target was traveling was going to cross the street in front of this building in a few minutes.

2- The goggles boy from SCHOOL was going to hack the street light so it would change to red.

3- The bus would stop and the sniper was going to shoot the tires and the engine to neutralize it.

4- Then they would approach the bus stealthily, waiting for the target to get out of it.

5- Saiai would then move closer and capture her, using her offence armor to protect them from the explosion that Mugino was going to cause by blowing up the bus.

6- Frenda would assist their escape through the street's only alley and set up traps in case someone pursued them.

The sniper and the goggles boy were going to retreat as soon as their role was finished, while the girl with the dress was going to stay nearby and only move in case of an emergency. Meanwhile SCHOOL's leader was to be watching the whole thing from the distance using Takitsubo's power to keep track of the bus.

Now while on the surface the plan was great and actually had a good chance of succeeding, the extra knowledge she had made seeing the true nature of it easy. The whole idea behind it was to lock ITEM in a losing battle against the target's bodyguards; then the girl with the dress would use her ability to prevent anyone from attacking her and sneak into the battlefield, retrieve the target and then join her partners on their escape, leaving ITEM to die.

"A real charge towards death."

It was a wonderful plan, SCHOOL would get the girl, Takitsubo and dispose of the rest of ITEM in one move.

"But is not meant to be…"

Once she got out of the building, she looked at her watch and then searched her pocket for a couple of ear plugs she bought on the convenience store when she went to get the sniper's food, as she was pulling them out; she carelessly let a weird tool slip out of her pocket…

"Oops…"

She kept walking as if nothing happened and put her ear plugs on as just a few seconds later the building behind her exploded and collapsed in a perfectly controlled manner.

"They always make the same mistake."

She turned around to watch the destruction and as the dust settled she noticed the sniper's body lying near the top of the rubble.

"I can't believe it…"

She got closer to him as carefully as she could through the rubble, she inspected his body and noticed that while he had taken quite a few injuries from the collapse, he was only unconscious and had no fatal wounds whatsoever.

"How the hell…? She was right!"

She pulled him out, dragged him into the street and then threw him on the middle of the sidewalk.

…

She turned around when she saw someone throwing the girl with the dress right beside the sniper; she appeared to be unconscious as well.

…

Then she remembered she still had her ear plugs on so she pulled them out.

"What is it Kinuhata? I couldn't hear you."

"I said: I see everything went super well."

"Yep… just as planned I guess."

Then goggle boy was thrown right beside his partners but with a lot more strength, he was so beat up his face was unrecognizable but he was still breathing.

"That's an understatement; everything went on exactly like she said."

"Mugino… what happened with your shoes?"

The leader of team ITEM stood in front of her subordinates, she looked really pissed and for some reason the high heels she often wore were missing.

"This idiot felt the need to 'relief himself' while I was beating the crap out of him and some of it got into my shoes."

"And you didn't kill him?"

She just muttered under her teeth.

"She wouldn't let me…"

After hearing this Saiai chuckled.

"Really? How did she do that? I bet she said something like: 'If you kill him I'll tell Kyon kun' or 'You know, Kyon kun doesn't like murderers'."

Mugino just muttered again.

"Something like that…"

Saiai laughed out loud while Frenda frowned a little but said nothing; since the little stunt she pulled yesterday went surprisingly unpunished she decided it was better to remain quiet.

"Hey! Is everyone alright?"

They turned around to find their lackey… I mean 'assistant' Hamazura Shiage running towards them.

"Hey Hamazura, yeah everything went as expected."

"Great, what about Takitsubo?"

Mugino looked at her watch.

"We should be hearing from her right about…"

'_Ring tone'_

"…now."

She pulled out her cell and answered it, unlike this morning however she excused herself so that her partners wouldn't listen, when she was finished she turned back again.

"Takitsubo?"

"Nope, it was the bastard, he's holding Takitsubo hostage and says he'll take care of us when he finishes with the target."

Yet despite this, all of them remained completely unfazed, well everyone but Hamazura that is.

"What? We have to go rescue her!"

"Not really."

"What are you talking about, you can't just abandon…"

But he noticed they were ignoring him as they seemed to be listening to someone else.

"Ok, ok I'll tell him… don't worry about her Hamazura, the lady of the card says she sent a hero of justice to save her and that she's going to be super fine."

"That again? Come on just who is that woman anyway? Actually does she even exist? I've never even heard her!"

For some reason Hamazura was unable to listen to the voice of the card and he wasn't the only one at that, during the entire time that woman had been giving instructions to them even when SCHOOL was around and none of them seemed to have heard her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you can´t."

Saiai got closer to him and patted his back.

"Hamazura I know you're super worried since she's your girlfriend, but we have no choice but to listen to what that woman says… it's probably for the best anyway."

Hamazura seemed like he was going to keep complaining but Mugino interrupted him.

"You know Hamazura, in this business there are three types of intel: unreliable, reliable and what that woman gave us, you can´t call that a plan or a course of action, everything she said happened exactly as she said it would, when she said it would and how she said it would; I don't know how the heck she does it but it's like she knows the future before it even happens."

Then she quickly pointed around her.

"This street for an example, she told us it was going to be completely deserted at this time and look, there's no one here!"

Then she muttered under breath.

"Bitch could have told me to bring extra shoes though."

Frenda decided to add something on her own.

"Yeah, she's right… You know the people from SCHOOL only told us which building we were going to use for the plan this morning, but…"

"But…?"

"But she told me to prepare this exact same place for demolition on Wednesday night, we hadn't even met with SCHOOL back then but she already knew; she even told me to do it that same night since I'd be unable later on and she was right, I doubt I could have sneaked out long enough yesterday."

The little stunt they played only took about 30 minutes and that was the maximum time they could allow themselves, anything more than that and SCHOOL would have started to suspect; in contrast preparing the building according to the woman's instructions took her around 3 hours.

Hamazura just sighed.

"Ok, I'll trust you…"

"Great, now could you do us a favor and call Anti-Skill, we need them to pick up this trash."

She pointed at the people from SCHOOL on the floor, he acknowledged their request and ran to a nearby pay phone; it'd be troublesome to call them from one of their cells.

"Great, now what do we do?"

They stopped once again as they were listening to a voice that just wasn't there.

"Ok, I'll tell him to go pick her up at that time on that place…"

Then they all listened to something else and nodded.

**The underground mall.**

We arrived at this weird mall that was built underground, it was a little crowded since school was already out, you see thanks to our little encounter with the kids and the fact that we had to take a big detour since one of the streets we had to take was closed for a demolition or something, we were quite behind our schedule and it was so late that Unabara san said we were better off spending the rest of the afternoon shopping since the amusement park closed somewhat early today and we wouldn´t have enough time to enjoy it if we went.

"Look, they have animal donuts! Let´s get some."

Surprisingly Haruhi seemed to take this quite well, she said she preferred not to have an incomplete experience, that we would visit the amusement park later on and that she would rather just do a little shopping… the fact that she has a lot of cash to burn thanks to the photo business the other day might have something to do with that decision though.

"Sure Haruhi san."

Also we met with Saten san and Mikoto san as soon as we arrived here (Shirai san and Uiharu san were on judgment duty and couldn´t come), just in time to help Haruhi select a disguise, you see once time was up, Unabara san intended to call Anti-Skill for assistance, but Haruhi said she rather not cause any more trouble and that she would be better off just disguising herself… why did she just bought a pair of sunglasses for that though…? I don´t know, but they were doing their job properly as we hadn´t been approached by anyone yet.

"Ok then go get them Kyon!"

"Right away!"

I went to the stand and bought some donuts that looked like baby chicks and once I took them to the table I saw something really weird.

"_Tweet tweet tweet, _this baby chicks are really well behaved as usual… Misaka says remembering a special date."

Misaka san was trying to call up the donuts with her finger… That was cute, so much that I just can´t believe she can be this…

"You´re right Ichigo chan, these donuts are really well made, they look just like the real thing."

"Donuts…? Just like the real thing…? Misaka says confused."

She carefully grabbed one of the chicks and examined, if I had to take a bet I'd say she was slowly coming to the realization that they were indeed supposed to be eaten.

"Is something wrong…?"

"No… Misaka says believing she owes someone an apology."

Anyway then we proceeded to eat the poor chicks, since they only sell them in packs of 8 I had to buy two so we had about 7 of them left after each of us took one (Misaka san still refused to eat), so I guess it's alright if I help another one for myself.

"Hey Haruhi san, Kyon san, everyone!"

Or maybe not as the person who was calling us was none other than Index san herself.

"Index chan! What are you doing here?"

She got closer to the table and looked at the donuts with hunger.

"Well Touma said he had to do something important so I came to this place to meet with a friend."

Haruhi gave Index san the donuts she was salivating on, she seemed like she was going to say something but Mikoto spoke first.

"Yeah…! of course! You should know about what he's doing…! Because you live together don´t you?"

Man she looks like she´s about to snap; luckily she managed to contain herself and didn't spark, although that can she's crushing is suffering the consequences.

"Touma? Who's that Misaka san?"

And once Saten san made that question Misaka san anger disappeared and a deep blush appeared on her face.

"Well… he is…"

"He's that transfer student I talked you about on my e-mails remember?"

Mikoto san looked at Haruhi embarrassed and flustered as if she was weakly trying to stop her from talking.

"I don´t know the details but they seem to know each other well."

Then Saten san looked at Mikoto san with a teaseful grin.

"They do…? I wonder if he's the one Shirai san was talking about…"

She made an evil chuckle and Mikoto san just lowered her head defeated.

"Well since we´re done with the food we should go now, want to come with us Index chan?"

She just shook her head happily and smiled.

"I'm sorry Haruhi san, but I'm going to meet with a friend somewhere around here in a few minutes… there she is!"

She pointed at a girl that stood on the distance, if I had to describe her I'd say she's like a slightly taller version of Asahina san but with glasses and a long ponytail on the left side of her head.

"Hyoka! I can´t believe it! That woman was right! You´re here!"

The girl waved at her and Index waved back with a huge smile.

"Well I must go now."

Haruhi just nodded at her.

"Ok, see you later Index chan!"

She bowed before leaving towards her friend, as I was turning back towards the table I noticed something weird, that being that Nagato kept staring at the girl that was with Index san until they were completely out of sight… also it might be my imagination but I think her mouth arched downwards a little.

"Well Mitsuki san, let's begin with the shopping!"

"Great, but before we start Suzumiya san, there's something we must discuss."

Unabara san pulled out several pamphlets from his jacket and distributed them among us.

"As I said yesterday, the technology of Academy City is about 30 years more advanced than the rest of the world, as such there're certain restrictions over the goods outsider are allowed to buy and take outside the city, the booklet I just gave you is a guide about that same subject."

Looking at it I can see that one of the first things they forbid to buy are cell phones… it seems I'm stuck with the Mugi-Phone for now, not like I had money for a new one anyway.

"Ok, let's go!"

And so Haruhi's shopping spree began, as you can probably imagine I was stuck carrying her (and everyone else's) bags so I had little time to buy a few things for myself and souvenirs for my family (I got an special one for my little sister, she's probably still sad about not coming).

"Wow! I can't believe this!"

Haruhi stood up in front of a figurine store, now as far as I know she isn´t a fan of that hobby, but the thing that called her attention had to be that they had sign that said _'Suzumiya Haruhi figurines now available'_.

"Look, they have me and Yuki… and there's Ichigo chan too, ok we just have to get some!"

Ok… do you really expect me to believe that not even 24 hours after Haruhi appeared on T.V. she already has a toy line after her? I'm calling b…

"Yeah this kind of things are pretty common around here, merchants are always eager to be the first to get on whatever craze is on fashion and since the manufacturing techniques are so advanced there's no trouble keeping up with demand."

Well that explains it I guess… but I still think is b…

"What are you doing Kyon? Get in here!"

Oh well whatever… By the way shouldn´t she get royalties out of this?

"Kyon, we're waiting! I want to finish here so we can go to that Seventh Mist store Saten chan mentioned!"

**Enemy Level 0**

Kakine Teitoku was walking towards the city's underground mall; the rest of his Organization SCHOOL had been easily wiped out by ITEM a couple of hours ago, but that was of no concern to him, as long as he managed to get his target then everything else was of no consequence.

"It´s quiet…"

During his entire trip he had found little to no resistance, he thought that maybe ITEM would try to rescue the hostage or maybe whoever captured the 5000 mercenaries yesterday would confront him… but nope, he hadn´t found anyone that would try to stop him on his march, even the hostage he took offered absolutely no resistance and surrendered peacefully.

"It seems you´ve been abandoned."

But the girl he was dragging gave him no answer, it had been like that the entire time, the only times she spoke to him was to surrender, to tell him she didn´t have any more Body Clear with her (which effectively turned her into dead weight) and whenever he cared enough to try to get an answer out of her which was never.

As he was crossing one of the bridges that separated him from his destination, he found the road being blocked by a young man with black spiky hair and a girl with long light green hair.

_´Tsk! ´_ "Get the hell out of my way!"

"Let her go!"

Surprisingly, Kakine did as he was told, the girl was useless and he was getting tired of dragging her around anyway.

"Done! Now would you kindly get the hell out of my way?"

"What do you want with Suzumiya san?"

Kakine just looked at him and chuckled.

"So you know about her? If you do then why do you even have to ask? The answer is obvious."

That response surprised the young man a little, for what he knew about him, this person should only be after Suzumiya san just because of a contract, but his words didn´t seem to indicate as such.

"You know, originally the plan was to kidnap her for some geezer named Kihara or something, but the old man had no vision, he only wanted to strap her into an operation table and chop her up; kind of a waste don´t you think?"

"So you thought about using her for yourself?"

"Of course! I got rid of the old man and made this plan to take her… Didn´t expect the ITEM bitches to betray us though, I admit I was too greedy for trying to kill two birds with one stone, but it doesn't matter, that's only a temporary setback at best; once I have Suzumiya, I'll drag her into my darkness and then I'll control her for myself, if I own her even the bastard who watches over this city will have to bow before me!"

The young man´s face got a dead serious expression.

"I see, I thought I could go easy on you if you were hired labor, but it seems I was wrong… sorry but I can´t let you do that; Suzumiya san might be strange and rude but she´s not a bad person, so if you think you can kidnap her and make her the slave of your selfishness then…"

He made a fist right in front of himself.

"I'll break that illusion of yours!"

Kakine answered him with a loud chuckle and an evil grin.

"Just try it you little piece of shit!"

Immediately six white wings appeared from his back and he waved them to create a strong wind trying to knock down his enemy out of the bridge, unfortunately for him, his own wings prevented him from seeing that the wind had stopped and that the boy was charging towards him with only a few meters left between them.

"I won´t let you!"

It was too late to dodge it, so he moved his wings back to try to block it… but it was useless; the young man's punch reach him though his wings, bending and damaging them as if they were made out of cheap, soft plastic.

Unknown to him, Kakine was being hit by the same punch that took down none other than Accelerator himself; he felt a horrible pain on the face but he could still keep his cool enough to counter, so he immediately tried to move his wings and noticed he had lost control over the two the piece of shit´s hand was touching, fortunately for him he had four more so used them to try to cleave him in half; his enemy was cut through the chest and pushed back by the wind they generated; but he only moved about 5 or 6 meters backwards as the wind stopped as soon as he recovered his composure and touched it with his right hand.

"I see… the wind that my 'Dark Matter' touches get contaminated by it, not enough to alter its laws but enough to… " He stopped to think something for a second but never losing sight of his enemy"…also judging by how I got back control of my wings back when he stopped touching them, it seems he can only do it at contact"

Then Kakine made a huge grin.

"Could it be…? Are you the one who beat that overrated number 1 asshole?"

"What if I am?"

Kakine laughed to himself as he enjoyed the fact he had found something interesting, he had heard the rumors and naturally got interested on the level 0 who could beat a level 5, but he didn´t expect him to come to him.

"You know, I was planning to beat you a little more and then leave you to die from that wound…"

He looked at the boy in front of him, he was already panting and blood gushed out of the cut on his chest slowly.

"But I think I rather make sure you´re dead… after all if you beat the one who beat the strongest, you might as well be the strongest yourself."

He flapped his wings and charged forward towards his enemy at an enormous speed, there were still a lot of unknown things about his ability, but he thought that while his chest was obviously vulnerable, it was better to not risk it and just beat the crap out of him directly.

"I got you!"

But that proved to be a huge mistake as the boy easily read his movements and counter him, landing a strong left hook into his gut; Kakine didn´t even have time to spit out the blood because he was given an right uppercut to his face that nearly breaks his jaw; he flew a couple of meters into the air, falling right in front of his enemy; he spent a few seconds on the floor and raised his head to spit out blood and that´s when he saw...

"The hell are you looking at me like that?"

The boy was looking at him with pity… He had faced a similar charge in the past, but that one was faster, stronger and far more vicious than his; for this reason Kakine could feel that his eyes were telling him ´He´s stronger than you´.

"What do you know…? You!"

He lost his cool completely, he didn´t care about reason anymore; he just wanted one thing…

"I'm going to kill you son of a bitch!"

He stood and quickly took flight, there were several ways he could kill that bastard but decided to use the easiest one… to destroy the entire bridge, he flew as fast as he could to a safe distance and that´s when he noticed something important… there was nobody around… at all, there should be some people on the bridge or in the streets nearby at this hour and their fight should have caused some kind of commotion… but it was all quiet, so quiet he could hear his enemy from the bridge.

"Wait a minute Kimidori san, I don´t think that´s what she meant with… no wait!"

Then he watched how the girl with the green hair, who hadn´t intervene on their fight so far, grabbed the bastard by the collar of his shirt and threw it at an incredible speed towards him.

"SUCH MISFORTUNEEEEEE!"

He didn´t have time to dodge or even to brace himself, the boy´s head hit him right on his stomach, completely throwing him off balance and cracking a few of his lower ribs, the pain was unbearable and it threatened to make him faint.

But before he did that he could try one more thing… He could still win! As they were falling he moved his wings trying to stab the now unconscious boy… but they missed since the girl with the green hair was flying with wings on her own and pulled him out just in time; his stab did hit something though, that being the green haired girl herself right above her waist… however instead of showing pain her face just looked at him with happiness.

But such things didn´t matter to Kakine Teitoku as he fell towards the river and his consciousness slowly slipped away.

…

From the distance Hamazura Shiage could hear a faint splashing sound, he stood there looking dumbfounded at the bridge, he didn´t have any idea of what just happened, all he knew is that it was like angels were fighting in the sky.

"She´s here."

He was together with the only person on the entire block; that red haired man he met the other day outside the city, he pulled out a cigarette, lighted it up and took a sip of it before speaking again.

"Your girlfriend, she's here."

Hamazura turned around to find Takitsubo Rikou running towards him with a smile on her face and apparently unharmed.

"Thank God!"

**Back to the hotel:**

We arrived at the hotel quite late since we were stuck in a little traffic jam thanks to one of the city´s bridges being closed for some reason.

"Bye Saten chan, Mikoto chan."

We said our goodbyes to Saten san and Mikoto san, as they were going to hitch a ride with Unabara san back home… and yes once again he looked way to happy to propose that idea and she looked way to awkward about it but accepted anyway… I've given up trying to figure them out by this point.

"Suzumiya san, remember tomorrow I won´t be coming here but it´ll be Musujime san instead."

"Sure, tomorrow is the day of the test and the interview right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Unabara san bowed and then led the two girls into his bus.

"Today was a good day don´t you think? This city is really amazing, it´s such a shame we have to stay here for so little…"

I don´t know on one side I agree with her since I've been enjoying the trip a lot, on the other hand I don't think the people working behind the scenes would like that… I should know about that, I usually get stuck with their job.

'_Sigh' _"Anyway, let's go get some sleep shall we…"

So we went to our rooms and once there just like yesterday I decided to watch some T.V. maybe I'll have better luck this time.

"_And so we're left wondering about those weird cards that some vandals keep pasting all over the city… now with something a little more lighthearted, the Suzumiya fever continues, after her debut yesterday it seems she decided to take a tour of the city, according to some witnesses she was spotted on several of the city tourist spots including the aeronautical exhibition that's going on in district 3 right now."_

"_Not only that, it seems that while she was there, she was approached by several child errors that were on a field trip, but don't listen to the story from me, just hear it from one of the children."_

_Edasaki Banri:_

"_Haruhi neesan is the best! She was really nice to us and even signed me this autograph!"_

"_You know I got to admit, after witnessing so many idols acting nice just for the cameras, it´s refreshing to see one who's nice even when they´re not around."_

"_Got to agree with you on that; anyway in other news several witnesses reported today… you´re not going to believe this: an 'angel'… Yeah an angel with green hair flying through the city to take an injured boy to a hospital…"_

_Knock! Knock!_

Huh? I wonder who that could be.

"Who is it?"

"It's me!"

Haruhi… what is she doing here? I turned off the T.V. and opened the door.

"What do you want?"

"Kyon, could you come with me for a while? There is someplace I want to go."

**War report II**

It was cold, his jaw hurt like hell, his stomach felt like it was going to come out from his mouth, but above all… it was cold, the river had washed him ashore a few hours ago, he had recovered consciousness a little before that but still he didn´t move, not because he couldn´t but because he didn´t want to; he had suffered such a big humiliation, to be defeated so pathetically… that hurt him far more than any wound he had.

Suddenly he felt someone dragging him out the riverbed and into the grass, he opened his eyes to see who it was and the first thing that entered his field of vision was… hair, lots of it, it was black and it belonged to a gorgeous woman, the most beautiful he had ever seen, maybe it was because of his condition but he couldn´t help but to be mesmerized by her, he tried to call her, but his voice just wouldn´t come out, again and again he tried but he just couldn´t, eventually he began to feel sleepy and soon his consciousness faded out again.

…

It was warm, as he slowly woke up he noticed the pain from his wounds was gone and so seemed to be his clothes, but he paid no attention to that, rather he did so to the hand that was caressing his head… well 'caressing' might not be the right word since it was quite rough and irregular but still he couldn´t help but to feel it was trying to communicate with him.

He opened his eyes and found the girl from earlier caressing him without even looking at him, he tried to speak but once again no voice would come out, he wanted to try again but somehow it felt unnecessary, it was kind of hard to explain but he could feel a connection with her just by her touch and such had no trouble staying quiet and let himself enjoy the moment.

After a few minutes had passed he noticed the girl suddenly moved to look at him directly on his eyes, she made no signs of acknowledging him but kept staring; they remained like that for a while and it was only about a minute later when her mouth began to move so she could speak to him for the first time.

"_Your _Eyes _very _pretty."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

"What's taking you so long Kyon."

"This stupid thing ate my money."

We were currently on some park in the middle of Academy City; Haruhi dragged me all the way from the hotel saying she wanted to meet the place but once we got here she just sat on a bench and told me to get her something to drink, which I would've done ages ago if this stupid vending machine decided to cooperate with me.

"Let me see."

She came closer and hit the 'Return change' button.

"It's useless, I've pressed that thing like hundred times already and…"

But of course the stupid thing finally decided to work and gave my money back.

"Seriously Kyon…" _'Sigh' _"Forget it, I'll do it…"

She carefully placed all the change back into the vending machine and predictably the cursed thing worked flawlessly this time.

"Here you go."

"Thanks…"

We sat on the bench together, drinking our beverages in silence for a while.

"Hey Kyon."

"What is it?"

"Have you been enjoying the trip so far?"

"Yeah! It's been pretty fun."

"I see… That's great."

After that it seemed we were up for another round of uncomfortable silence; not if I can help it though.

"So… why are we here anyway?"

"I don't know…"

She took a long breath and stretched herself.

"I just noticed this park from the bus today and I kind of wanted to see it…"

"Why?"

"I'm not sure; I guess I was just interested on seeing the daily life of the city."

"Well you're not going to see much of it at this time."

"I know that… idiot! I was just talking about how we've only seen places tourist would go and I wanted to see something more… you know…"

"I understand, I'm guessing that's why we stayed shopping today instead of going to the amusement park, same reason why you preferred to disguise yourself rather than call Anti-Skill for protection, you wanted to see how it would be like to live on this place."

And also the reason why a couple of sunglasses were enough to fool an entire city that's looking for you.

"Exactly… Wow! I'm surprised Kyon, I thought you hadn't been paying attention but it seems I was wrong, well done!"

"I always pay attention, even if I don't look or act like it… but to be honest I didn't need that to see through your intentions this time."

"What… what do you mean?"

"Nothing, It's just that… I know you that's all."

After I said that she looked away from me, she sounded a little nervous for some reason.

"I see… hey Kyon what do you think about what happened yesterday?"

"You mean the whole thing about becoming an idol by accident, I must admit I'm surprised, most people would've frozen right on the spot when they found out they've been singing for an entire city."

"Yeah, I was so startled I just did the first thing that came to my mind."

"You might have overdone it a little though."

"You know I was thinking the exact same thing at first but then… when I saw the crowd that gathered on the building and the smiles of those kids from earlier I knew I did the right thing."

"Don't forget you have your own toy line now."

'_Chuckle' _"Of course not, I got the whole set."

"But seriously I didn't expect the Suzumiya fever to catch on so fast, they really love you… funny you would've thought the same thing should've happened back home."

"Yeah I believe it's because people here didn't know me."

Actually I believe it was because you wanted to leave a mark on this city and it somehow ended up in that. "Or who knows maybe it's like the Germans liking that guy from Baywatch."… I said that last part out loud didn't I…? Crap! I can already see a vein popping.

"Kyon… You make a comparison like that again and I'll…" _'Sneeze'_

"Are you cold?"

"A little, I forgot to pick up a sweater when I sneaked out of the room."

"You should have told me back in the hotel; I could have lent you one of mine…"

I stood off and took off my coat.

"Here take this."

"No it's ok Kyon I…" _'Sneeze'_

"Seriously…"

I put the coat on her shoulders, she looked at me a little annoyed but once she felt the warmth of the coat her expression softened.

"Thank you."

Then she wrapped it properly and looked down.

"Anyway Kyon, we should get going, it's getting late and…" _´Yawn! ´ "_…I'm kind of tired."

Now that's weird, Haruhi you're not the kind of person to go to bed early, actually I can't even remember the last time you said you were tired.

"It's nothing; I just had a little trouble sleeping last week since I was so excited about the trip."

"Then you shouldn't have thrown that party yesterday."

"I know that! It's just that we're going to be here so little time that I thought that sleeping in was a waste of time."

So it was that… got to admit that spending an entire night playing games and watching movies is not the idea I had for a tourist visit, but still I can't blame her, it was fun.

"Could I ask you one last question?"

"Sure Kyon whatever you want."

"Do you like this city?"

Once she heard that she leaned back on the chair looking at the sky as she took a little breath, before slowly lowering her gaze towards me.

"I love it!"

I knew it!

"And I'm not saying that just because of the idol thing… it's kind of hard to explain but I really like this place, it seems mysterious, inviting and nostalgic at the same time."

Nostalgic? Why would you feel like that if…?

"But… I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason I can't shake the feeling that this city it's like a circus."

"A circus?"

"Yeah… you know how everything in the circus seems so nice and inviting on the outside but behind the classy exterior it's nothing like that at all… as if there was some kind of darkness that you can't see at a first glance."

Ok, I think I speak for everyone when I say… Huh? What are you talking about?

"Still despite all that, I still say that I love this place…"

When she said that she looked away at the distance, as if she was lost in thought for a while.

"Hey Kyon… If I decided to stay on this place, to run away with the circus… would you miss me?"

Ah? What's this all of the sudden?

"Don't get me wrong, I haven't changed my mind about changing schools… I've a reason to stay at North High, but… I was just wondering if…"

So it was that… Seriously Haruhi don't scare me like that.

"I'd miss you."

"Huh?"

She turned to look at me as if she wasn't expecting an answer in the first place.

"If you decided to stay here of course I'd miss you and so would everyone else, you're our friend and our leader after all… Stupid! You don't even have to ask that, the answer is obvious!"

Then she lowered her gaze again so I wouldn't see her face and took a long breath before looking at me again with a huge smile on her face.

"That's right! I can't abandon my duties to the brigade; it's obvious you guys wouldn't be able to maintain it if I was gone; you are nothing without me!"

Can't say she's wrong about that… either way we should get going, a quick look at the clock tell me it's only two minutes to midnight already and we have to get up early tomorrow.

'_Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzz'_

Huh? I turned around only to find my dear leader fast asleep on the bench… seriously she was all fired up a few seconds ago and now she's sleeping like this.

"What am I going to do with you…?"

Oh well, no point complaining I guess… I'll admit I'm not brave (or stupid depending on how you see it) enough to wake her up so I'll just carry her back to the hotel.

"Ok, up you go Haruhi."

I picked her up to give her a piggy-back ride and began walking towards the hotel; I wonder if they're still busses running around at this hour, we're pretty far away and…

'_Leaves rustling.'_

What was that? I swear I could hear someone on my back right now… Actually now that I think about it, I'm currently completely alone in the middle of the night on a place I'm not familiar with, carrying someone that's both a famous idol that can mobilize a rabid fan base in a few minutes and the target of several less than legal organizations that according to Mugino at least, have absolutely no problem with doing whatever it takes to get her… isn't that kind of…

'_Running Steps.'_

Ok, someone's running towards me from behind! Now what do I do?

'_Slash!'_

But I didn't have to think about that as several swords appeared from the ground and cut the concrete where I was standing on; making me fall into whatever's down there… As I was falling I noticed that the faint light on top of me vanished from a second and then reappeared, as if someone jumped across the hole… but I couldn't see who it was as I immediately heard the big _'Thump!'_ of my body hitting the ground.

"Ouch!"

"Hmmm… Too noisy _'Mumble mumble…'_"

Thanks Haruhi… good to see my body broke your fall and you're ok, keep sleeping like that… Anyway, I felt someone tapping my shoulder and I looked up to find that guy with the oversized shirt from the other day (Tatemiya san I believe) and a couple of other people I've never seen before.

…

For some reason even though Tatemiya san seemed to be trying to speak with me, I couldn't hear him and judging by his reaction I should be.

…

And once I tried to speak to him myself I found that I couldn't hear myself either… Ok, what the heck is supposed to be going on?

'_Too noisy.' _

You don't mean? I looked at the girl resting on my back and so did Tatemiya san; then he looked me in the eyes and nodded before helping me stand up, pointed at a direction where there was another person with a flashlight and made a sign for me to go there; needless to say I decided to do as he said and began walking.

…

You know I have to admit it's actually kind of fortunate Haruhi made sound disappear, I doubt I could explain her why I'm walking through what I presume is a sewer with her on my back so any help in keeping her asleep is appreciated it; now I wonder if she could do something about that freaking smell? Seriously no matter where in the world you are…

'_Sniff! Sniff! Yuck!'_

Wait a minute how come she can…? Forget it, the smell is gone and that's all that matter, thanks for listening to my prayers God.

'_Mumble mumble…' _"You're welcome Kyon…" _'Mumble mumble…' _"I know I look good in my waitress uniform." _'Mumble mumble.'_

What the heck is she dreaming about? Anyway I continued following the road Tatemiya san sent me through and found a girl with her head tied in a ponytail, a little ahoge that was kind of cute and a smiley face button used as a decorative ornament; once I got close enough to her she simply pointed out the flashlight she was carrying towards another direction where there was another person with a flashlight; quickly understanding what she meant I continued my walk with a new destination.

**? Later:**

I'm pretty sure it's been at least an hour since I began my march and I'm sick of this place already, I would've started running ages ago but the footing is pretty bad and it doesn't help that this place it's like a maze, I definitely wouldn't be able to find a way towards the hotel if these people weren't helping me… assuming that's what they're doing anyway; at least Haruhi was pretty light so I'm not that tired.

…

After the last session of 'follow the flashlight' I found Itsuwa san, she however instead of pointing me towards another one just illuminated a nearby ladder that had an opened manhole at the top and then helped me get out of the place without waking Haruhi up.

Once outside I noticed I was indeed in front of the hotel, so I turned around to give Itsuwa san a sign of thanks; she just looked at me and gave me a gorgeous smile in return before closing the manhole cover and walking away.

Oh well now that's done I better get back, it must be pretty late by now so I just want to drop the sleeping beauty on her room and go to sleep… however once I got into the lobby I noticed there wasn't anybody at the reception or anywhere else.

"Creepy!"

Hey I can speak again.

"Over here!"

Huh? I turned around to find that tall, red haired guy that was with Asahina san the other day standing near the elevator with several boxes around him; he made a sign for me to get closer to him.

"Glad you could make it."

"Don't mention it."

Why does he look like he knows everything that happened? Anyway he pulled out a key card like the one I use to open my room and gave it to me.

"Listen, we are going to have to swap rooms for the night."

"Huh?"

"It's an order from above, if you need to know anything else about it… it's probably classified information."

I see… That explains everything; anyway as I was wondering how the heck was I supposed to swap the cards while still holding Haruhi, I noticed someone else was talking to me.

"Kyon san, I'll take her to our room... Misaka whispers so she would not wake Suzumiya san up."

"Ichigo san."

"That's correct, this is Misaka 11111… Misaka says wondering how you knew."

I turned around and found Ichigo san looking at me, I'm glad, after missing the swap this morning it actually feels pretty nice getting it right just by her voice this time… it was probably just luck though.

"Anyway how he knew doesn't matter; we need to take her to her room as fast as possible."

We both nodded at the words of the man with the red hair and then I carefully gave Haruhi to Ichigo san, must admit I'm kind of surprised she could lift her, it's not like Haruhi is heavy but Ichigo san looks kind of frail yet she has absolutely no problem carrying her.

"How was the examination?"

"Excellent… Misaka says feeling happy of her health."

"That's really nice to hear, shall we go now?"

She just nodded and we entered the elevator the guy with the red hair called an instant ago, although he just swapped cards with me and didn't enter.

"You coming?"

He just looked at me at the corner of his eye and turned around to face the entrance to the hotel.

"Nope, there's still something I have to care of… remember your new room is 237."

As the elevator closed I noticed the door of the hotel opening, but I couldn't see who it was… anyway I stepped out on my floor and whished Ichigo san and Haruhi goodnight (the latter still fast asleep) and went to my new room.

Once inside I noticed that it was pretty much just like my other room, also there was a complete change of clothes on the closet with a note that said _"Wear these."_ So that means I won't have to worry about going up there in the morning… I hope they let me take back my luggage at least.

Anyway that doesn't matter, all I care about right now I going to sleep it must be pretty late by now so… Wait a minute… why does the clock on the bed table say its 11:58…? And so does my cell phone… And the TV… I even called 117 and the speaking clock told me it was 11:58… but that makes no sense, that's exactly the same time when Haruhi fell asle…! Ah I see! She must be really tired and then… no wonder she's always so energetic, that's cheating!

Meh! Whatever, I'm too tired right now so I'll just go to sleep and worry about those things tomorrow… I mean hopefully it'll be tomorrow when I wake up.

**The next day:**

The elevator door opened and allowed me to listen to a phrase that was becoming part of a daily routine.

"You're late Kyon!"

And just like usual I would consider that I was just the last person to arrive but was not in fact late at all… but since I've already tried to argue that point a million times and failed I'd just give out an apology I didn't mean and move on with our lives.

"Sorry."

Then Haruhi would sigh and say something about being disappointed in me.

'_Sigh!'_ "Just what am I going to do with you Kyon?"

Luckily this time I had something to fight back.

"Hey! I would've woken up early if someone hadn't…"

"It's ok Kyon it doesn't matter!"

She blushed and whispered _'Ichigo chan told me you carried me back last night… Thank you!'_ Before turning back and going back to the rest of the group.

"You're welcome."

Anyway, I arrived at the lobby and Musujime san quickly took place on the center of the group; also I couldn't help but notice that despite the weather getting colder, she was still wearing that outfit that easily beat Kanzaki sans' in the amount of skin it showed.

"Great! Now that we're all here I'll explain what we're going to do today."

Funny, she mustn't be used to being a tour guide because you can notice a slight hint of annoyance on her voice… oh well what can you do about it?

"First we'll go to a certain high school on district 7, there you will take the examinations, then after you finish with the tests I'll guide you to the home of the general director so you can have the interview, once that's done you can do whatever you wish."

"Great!"

"Ok ready to go everyone?"

We all nodded at Musujime san's words and followed her to the bus.

**A certain high school (part I):**

In the teacher's lounge of a certain high school in Academy City, Tsukuyomi Komoe and Yomikawa Aiho discussed the events of the previous night.

"So… did you notice it yan?"

"Of course, I was awake grading a few tests when it happened…"

However Yomikawa glared at her colleague explanation.

"And I might've been drinking a beer or two, that's not the point."

"The point is that something made every single clock in Academy City freeze at the same time."

The smaller teacher then searched on her bag for a couple of pictures.

"It's not that simple, something like that could be easily explained by a malfunction on the servers the clocks synchronize their time with; most of them are connected anyway but…"

She gave the pictures to her coworker, both of them showed the moon, marking a couple of landmarks in the sky to indicate it was on the same place; the curious thing was that while both pictures had a time stamp at 11:58 with only a few seconds of difference, they also showed a hand holding a chronometer that was at zero on the first picture and 60 minutes on the second.

"No server malfunction is going to stop the moon in the same place for more than an hour."

"I know, I did a similar test and got the same result, and this is not taking into account the fact the city went mute around the same time jan."

"Don't forget we lost the sense of smell a little after that too."

"_Tsk! _What is supposed to be going on? Is this some kind of attack from the outside or something?"

"Doubt it; the city authorities would have pronounced itself by now if that were the case, but they seem to be taking advantage of the fact that it happened so late on a school night to just ignore it and sweep it under the rug; it seems most people didn't even noticed something was wrong."

Yomikawa took a long breath and stretched herself.

"Then it must be something else; maybe an experiment went wrong or something…"

"That's possible, I hear that ever since the level upper incident they have been investigating methods of collective hypnosis; if you think about it that explains why there aren't any reports about this phenomenon coming from anywhere else in the world."

"Sounds reasonable jan… It doesn't explain the moon staying on the same place but I hope is something like that; I doubt even Academy City could defeat an enemy that can take away your senses or stop time in place."

"You're right; anyway we should get back to work…"

Then Komoe sensei searched her bag once again to get some documents and gave them to her colleague.

"There you go; this is the V.I.P. you'll be taking care of today."

She picked up the papers and only had to look at the first page to let out a sigh.

"Her?"

"Huh? You know Suzumiya san?"

Then Yomikawa lowered her head disappointed.

"Know her? I was the one in charge of escorting her back to safety Thursday night… _'Sigh' _it was traumatic to say the least."

Komoe sensei sweat dropped at her reaction.

"Yeah, I can relate to that… I met her when I went to get back that student of mine back from her town a few weeks back and I can tell first hand that she can be a little 'eccentric'."

Both teachers shivered together.

"Still I have to admit she sings pretty nice jan."

"Yeah."

As they both nodded the door of the lounge was opened and someone walked in.

"Kikyo?"

She was one of the freeloaders in her home right now, Yoshikawa Kikyo, she was carrying a huge bag with a red cross on it.

"Good morning Oneesama, Komoe sensei."

She bowed politely and both teachers did as well in response.

"Good morning."

"Good morning jan."

As she was getting closer to her Yomikawa just had to ask her.

"Kikyo, what are you doing here? I thought you said you had a job to do today."

The short haired woman just smiled, let her bag in an empty table and helped herself some coffee from the coffeemaker that was on a nearby table.

"I do, I got hired by the city administration to collect some samples from a V.I.P. that's supposed to be coming here today and then send them back to the lab."

Yomikawa sweat dropped.

"You don't mean…?"

"Yeah, I must admit I'm surprised, I thought she was just an idol but apparently they want me to make some tests to…"

Suddenly a huge roar could be heard across the entire school.

"**IT'S SUZUMIYA HARUHI!"**

As she heard the entire school roaring Yomikawa could only lower her head and sulk.

"Why does this have to happen to me?"

Then they could hear a small crowd going down the stairs towards the entrance.

"Komoe… Did you remember to bring a substitute for your class?"

The small teacher shook her head.

"No, why should I? You're the one supposed to take care of her remember; I just told them to use the first hour for self-study since I was going to be busy with the introduction and then I'd go back to the classroom."

Yomikawa let the longest sigh possible; she had gotten a trustworthy substitute for her class and she was confident the other teachers would not let anyone out even in this situation.

"Then that's probably your kids outside."

**A certain high school (Part II):**

The bus stopped at a certain regular looking high school, nothing special at first sight but I've learn to not judge things by their looks alone.

"Well, here we are…"

Musujime san pressed a button on the remote she was carrying and opened the door to let us all out of the bus; once outside we didn't even have to walk 20 meters before someone recognized our dear leader who had forgotten to wear her sunglasses today.

"**IT'S SUZUMIYA HARUHI!"**

Little by little students rushed outside to see what was going on and no sooner than later a crowd had formed around us, albeit this one was way smaller than the one on Thursday, about a classroom at most, although one good look at the windows revealed that most of the students were stuck in class and couldn't come out (Thank god!).

"Wow! Hi everyone!"

And of course our dear leader was enjoying every minute of it; unlike the rest of us that is, Asahina san was hidden behind Kanzaki san who seemed at the defensive in case something happened, Koizumi was looking at the crowd with his usual smile, while Nagato and Ichigo san seemed completely undisturbed and Musujime san was quietly staying on the sidelines.

"Suzumiya san!"

Suddenly from within the crowd a guy with blue hair and piercings that seemed oddly familiar somehow got closer to Haruhi and since for some reason I can already tell I don't like that guy one bit I got closer to her as well just in case.

"Suzumiya san, as the president of the Academy City branch of your fan club and the representative from our class I'd like to welcome you to our humble school."

Why does he have to fake a Kansai accent…?

"Ehh… Thank you!"

Haruhi seemed to feel a little uncomfortable around this guy… not that I can blame her, I don't even know him but I just can't shake the feeling that he's Taniguchi 2.0.

"Not at all! It's our pleasure to have you here so it's the least we could do… but and pardon my rudeness I must ask: What do we owe the honor of you visit?"

Oh come on… he'd be less obvious if he actually kissed her behind directly rather than doing it like this… Wait a minute scratch that idea, I have a feeling he'd be way to happy to actually do that.

"Well… I came here to take some examinations about a scholarship or something…"

And then the crowd went nuts.

"_You heard that! Suzumiya san is going to study on this school!"_

"_What…? Finally a reason to look forward coming to this dump every day!"_

"_Suzumiya san marry me!"_

"She really is an idol… creepy fans and everything."

Huh? I was completely surprised when someone talked to me and I didn't even have to look for the person who did it as she was standing right in front of me.

"Himegami san! What are you doing here?"

"I study here… I've been calling you the past minute but you didn't notice me."

What the…? I can honestly say I've never noticed she was there.

"It's alright though… I'm the kind of girl that goes unnoticed."

She looked at me with a face that while showing no emotion at all managed to transmit an aura of sadness that made me feel bad about her, to the point I have to admit I seriously thought she needed a hug and I might have been tempted to give her one myself.

"Sorry."

She nodded and walked away back into the crowd, ok I just have to say it; despite there being no notable differences, she feels like a totally different person when Tsuruya san is not around.

"Hey Aogami! How come you only act like the class representative when stuff like this happens?"

I recognize that voice as well, she was the other girl with Tsuruya san the other day; Fukiyose san if I remember correctly; she got closer to the idiot with the piercings in an instant and held him in an aikido lock.

"Stop acknowledging your duties just whenever you feel like it, stupid!"

She held him on the lock until he turned as blue as the color of his hair and lost consciousness; letting him fall into the ground before turning around towards our notably unperturbed leader (She's no stranger to random acts of violence after all) with a huge smile on her face.

"Hi Suzumiya san, I'm Fukiyose Seiri, I've saw you before on that restaurant last week but we didn't have a chance to talk; You see ever since I saw you on the T.V. the other day I've become a fan of yours and…"

As she went on with her introduction, students began calmly lining up behind Fukiyose san to have some time with their idol.

"It's amazing isn't it? Even a huge crowd full of her fans will calmly line up to meet her rather than make a ruckus; it's obvious she doesn't want to cause much trouble."

Just as I was distracted with the scene in front of me, Koizumi got really close to me like he always does.

"Of course she doesn't, if we needed an escort or something like that to move around the city it'd ruin the trip."

"But you have to give Fukiyose some credit, she was the one who organized the class like this before we even set a foot outside the school; it helps that she's a fan of hers ~nya."

Huh? We both turned around to find none other than the person responsible for this whole mess.

"Motoharu! What are you doing here?"

He looked at us through his sunglasses with a huge grin on his face.

"What do you mean Koizuyan? It's a school day and this is my school, where else would I be?"

Koizumi answered him with a smile of his own.

"I see, how fortunate for us to meet you here…"

"Thank you Koizuyan it's nice to see you too, by the way I have to admit, I didn't expect you guys to get into the city with such fanfare. I heard you had lots of trouble getting out of that building the other day… thank god my little sister was unharmed."

For some reason Koizumi's smile got creepier.

"Speaking about that Motoharu, and before you get taken away; I have to ask you something… Were you the one who sold out our location on Thursday night?"

"Maybe… but Koizuyan; what do you mean with…"

"Tsuchimikado!"

Suddenly form behind him, Kanzaki san appeared with her eyes closed and a weird smile on her face; needless to say the man got a 'little' nervous when she saw her.

"Neechin… how are you doing?"

The smile got even wider.

"Fine thank you… listen I heard from a little bird that you were the one who sold out Suzumiya san to Academy City… is that true?"

"Maybe…"

Then keeping her smile intact she grabbed him by the shoulder and slowly pulled him behind the school.

"Kyon san, Koizumi san, I'm going to borrow this idiot for a while… I'll be back when it's time for us to leave."

She said this with a perfect smile on her face and a tone of voice that was almost sweet.

"No…! Wait…! Neechin I can explain… Help me!"

Despite his pleas, Koizumi only waved goodbye at him as he was taken away.

"Everyone let's go back to the classroom!"

Then from behind the crowd three women appeared, one of them was Komoe Sensei, another one was that member of Anti-Skill that helped us the other day (the 'Jan woman' as Haruhi kindly named her) and another woman with short hair.

"_But Sensei…"_

The entire class was silenced at the sight of their small teacher with a few tears on her eyes.

"I promise I'll explain everything to you… but please let's go back to the classroom, Whoa…"

As you can imagine, that yelp was Haruhi lifting her just like when they first met.

"Komoe sensei, you're here! How've you been?"

And just like back then the little teacher pouted at her annoyed.

"Moh! Suzumiya san, let me down…"

"You know her Komoe sensei?"

The entire class got really interested and their teacher did the best she could to look at them while still in Haruhi's arms.

"Yeah, I met her when I went to get Kamijou chan back a few weeks ago remember? She was in the same class as him"

Then they all suddenly froze up in place.

"_You don't think…?"_

"_It can't be!"_

"_Suzumiya san might be infected!"_

"_No way! And to think I believed I had a chance since Kamijou is in the hospital."_

"Huh? Touma kun is in the hospital?"

They got even more frozen when she said that.

"Yeah, apparently Kamijou chan got in a fight yesterday and he's in the hospital again."

"Oh I see… well I suppose we should pay him a visit or something…"

"_Wait a minute…"_

"_That actually sounded totally unconcerned!"_

"_So she has not succumbed to the disease?"_

"_Seems like it… Hurray!"_

The worst part of all this is that I think I can guess which disease they're talking about… anyway the 'Jan woman' who had just been looking at the situation with an amused expression so far, finally decided to intervene and took Komoe sensei form Haruhi's arms and placed her on the floor.

"Ok that's enough everyone! You guys need to go back to your classroom and Suzumiya san has to come with us to get a medical and physical examination."

"Hey it's the ´Jan woman´!"

As she said that the entire crowd burst out in laughter, even Komoe sensei.

"Jan woman you say…" But of course the ´Jan woman´ didn't took it well and you could see several veins popping on her forehead, but before she could do something else the lady with the short hair interrupted her.

"Anyway Suzumiya san, we should move out, these kids need to go back to their classroom and we need to get on with the tests."

Haruhi just looked at her and nodded.

"Ok I understand."

Finally the 'Jan woman' sighed and guided our way into the school where we parted ways with Komoe sensei and everyone else; once inside the nurse office the two ladies finally introduced themselves.

"Suzumiya san, before we begin we should introduce ourselves, I'm Yoshikawa Kikyo and I'll be in charge of the medical examination, it's a pleasure."

She bowed a little and then her partner did the same.

"And I'm Yomikawa Aiho, I'll be in charge of the physical one."

Funny despite being visibly upset a few minutes ago, now she has a calm and gentle smile on her face; anyway we quickly introduced ourselves before Yoshikawa san explained what we were going to do.

"Well Suzumiya san, we'll begin with the medical examination, first I'm going to take your measurements, then a simple checkup of your vital signs, followed by a series of simple, non-intrusive scans of your brain using this portable device I brought to measure your brainwaves among other stuff and finally I'm going to need some blood, urine and stool samples to send them back to the lab."

Haruhi just sighed.

"Ok, let's get on with it…"

Yoshikawa san smiled and turned toward us.

"Great! Then I'm going to ask you guys to leave, it's going to take a while and I'm going to need for her to take off her clothes."

"You can wait for her in the cafeteria; we'll go get you when she's done jan."

For some reason I didn't feel worried about leaving her alone this time; maybe is because Yoshikawa san and Yomikawa san seem way more trustworthy than those two the other day, so we all nodded and followed their instructions to get into the cafeteria, once there Koizumi excused himself.

"I'm going to see how Kanzaki san is doing."

Or something like that with a creepy smile on his face… anyway the thing is that I was now bored out of my mind waiting for our leader to be ready, sitting on a table together with Asahina san, Nagato and Ichigo san.

"Here you go Kyon kun."

Asahina san gave me some tea she got from a nearby machine.

"Thank you Asahina san!"

"It's my pleasure!"

Then we sat on the table and… not much else really, Nagato and Ichigo san were reading a couple of books they got from the library before we got here and I was having some meaningless chitchat with Asahina san; not that I'm complaining, her beautiful smile made it all worth it.

…

After a while I noticed Nagato suddenly dropped her book and turned around towards the entrance door, which immediately opened and revealed a familiar figure on the other side.

"Excuse me…"

She was the girl with glasses that was with Index san yesterday; she looked around the room, somehow looking terribly embarrassed while she was doing it until her eyes fixated on our table… or more specifically on Nagato.

"…Are you Nagato san?"

Nagato returned her stare and I could notice her mouth arched a little bit downwards before nodding; the girl with the glasses then looked at us and bowed while still looking terribly embarrassed.

"Ni… Nice to meet you… I'm Kazakiri Hyoka… if you don't mind Nagato san could I speak with you for a minute?"

Nagato nodded again and stood up.

"No, it's alright… we can talk here, I don't mind…"

She sat again while I made some space for Kazakiri san to sit, once she did that, there was a small silence were no one said a thing.

"I… Nagato san… Are you the reason why I am here?"

Huh? What is she talking about?

"Probably... Nagato explains."

"I see…" Then she noticed the confused look that Asahina san and me were giving her and blushed before hastily trying to explain herself.

"Sorry… I got nervous and talked too much… you see the thing is that I…"

"She is an AIM based humanoid interface… Nagato explains her origins in terms of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity."

"What are you talking about Nagato?"

Despite asking Nagato, it was Kazakiri san who answered me.

"I am not human…" Then she looked down with an incredible sadness on her face. "I'm a being created by the AIM that's gathered on this city…"

For some reason I'm not that surprised of that revelation… probably because I'm already used to every pretty girl around me not being normal.

"But the thing is that I usually cannot manifest myself on this city for too long, but ever since Thursday a huge concentration on AIM appeared that allowed me to be here; I tried to locate the source and found two, but one disappears and reappears randomly, so I followed the other and got to you Nagato san… I was going to talk to you yesterday but I… I found a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time and I wanted to spend some time with her…"

I'm guessing her friend must be Index san.

"She told me your name and then… I decided to find you again…"

Then her face got a little serious before looking at Nagato decided.

"What are you? The AIM you emit is only compatible with ours on the surface, I tried to analyze the internal structure and it's… impossible, incomprehensible, and nonsensical to say the least."

She took another pause before standing up and bowing.

"Nagato san, please lend me some data about your AIM…"

She made a small pause before continuing.

"I believe it can help me comprehend my existence properly, and maybe give me a way to control my appearances on this world."

Nagato's eyes shined and Ichigo san looked at her strangely, following this she stood up and walked until she was in front of the still bowing Kazakiri san.

"Equivalent trade."

The girl with the glasses stood up and looked at her confused.

"Huh…? What do you mean?"

Nagato just pointed at her head.

"I see… ok, let's do it."

Then in an scene that I've already seen before, Nagato grabbed Kazakiri san by her shoulders and slowly got their faces together until they touched… their foreheads I mean; they remained like that for a while until Nagato let her go and moved to sit back in the same place where she was before, her eyes shining a little while he did it.

Meanwhile Kazakiri remained in a daze for a few seconds and then slowly turned around to look at us.

"I… see… so it's like this…"

Then she shivered and for a while it seemed like she was having a small seizure, but before I could even react to it she was back to normal.

"Thank you Nagato san."

Then as she was bowing with almost perfect timing Yoshikawa san appeared on the door.

"Hey! Suzumiya san already finished the tests, she's with Oneesama on the gym; you can join her if you wish."

We nodded at her words; yet when I turned around to say goodbye to Kazakiri san she was gone… Creepy; anyway we followed Yoshikawa san into the gym and then we found our dear leader already changed into what I presume is this school's P.E. uniform together with Yomikawa san.

"Ok kid, are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

And so her physical examination began, of course thanks to Haruhi's incredible physical condition most of them were no problem and even Yomikawa san commented on being impressed by her prowess; personally while I admit that watching Haruhi running around in a P.E. uniform is exciting in it's on way, it's not something I can't do at home so I rather just take a little stroll around this place.

"Where are you going Kyon kun?"

It seems Asahina san noticed I was leaving and got curious.

"Nowhere in particular, I just wanted to take a look around this place… Wanna come?"

She smiled at me and nodded with the grace of an angel.

"Sure."

I'd try to invite Ichigo san and Nagato too, but they seemed to be far too interested on their reading and I didn't want to bother them.

"I wonder where did Kaori go?"

"Yeah we haven't seen her since this morning now that I think about it…"

As we were going out the gym, our chat was interrupted by none other than the guy with blue hair and the piercings from before.

"Excuse me…"

It seems he was going to ask us something but he stopped dead cold when he saw Asahina san.

…

As in completely dead, to make matters worse his stare was obviously making her uncomfortable and she began to act all embarrassed about it.

"Is something wrong…? You're all red…"

Then she leaned forward filled with worry, a gesture that caused her massive bust to bounce around.

"…M… … …"

She leaned some more when she heard him mumbling which caused even more bouncing.

"**MOE OVERLOAD!"**

After yelling that, he passed out instantly falling to the ground completely unconscious.

"Is he alright?"

"Probably, let's just leave him there…"

I grabbed Asahina san by her arm and gently lead her away from this totally random and completely unnecessary scene… I knew he was Taniguchi 2.0!

Anyway we walked around the school for a while and I have to say it really feels like a nice place; It was particularly fun to watch that even on this technological city, teachers still gave their classes with chalk and a blackboard, you can see that despite having several technological advances that we wouldn't even dream to have back home, at the end of the day a school is still a school.

"Kyon kun, Asahina san!"

As we were walking around the sports fields, we found Koizumi coming from the direction of what appeared to be the storage room.

"Hey Koizumi, what are you doing here?"

He just smiled at us like he always does.

"I was helping Kanzaki san with a few chores."

Huh? Chores? What kind of…

"_Neechin please! I already told you I'm sorry…"_

"_**Silence!"**_

'_Bang! Thump! Crack!'_

"Nothing of importance really… Please don't worry about it."

Eh… ok… anyway after this we wisely decided to go somewhere else (as far away from this place as we could) and continued our stroll until we heard a message on the P.A. system:

'_Attention, to all members of the SOS Brigade, please report to the school entrance.'_

It seems our time was up; we quickly moved towards the entrance and found everyone else already there.

"Finally! No offence but taking this tests was a real pain!"

Yomikawa san smiled at her.

"Sorry but they were a direct order from the board of directors, can't do anything about them…"

"It's ok I understand… I'm just happy to be done with them."

"So am I… By the way if you do choose to study on this school talk to me, ok? There're a few clubs that would be interested on having someone like you."

Haruhi looked at her kind of embarrassed and scratched the back of her head.

"Nah! I've already tried most of those clubs and they're boring… My brigade is all I need; we are the best after all!"

Well thank you Haruhi, I appreciate that.

"Ok, it's kind of a waste with such outstanding results but we can't force you if you don't want to."

Yomikawa san looked at her and smiled; it seemed the little animosity she had at the beginning had disappeared completely after the tests.

"By the way, while you were changing I asked Komoe and she gave me the thing you asked me for."

She gave her a piece of paper.

"I'm surprised, to think you'd be a fan of his."

Haruhi just looked at her and laughed.

"Not at all! I do know tons of them back home, that's the problem!"

Yomikawa san joined in her laugh and in that instant Koizumi took the chance to get closer to Yoshikawa san to ask her something.

"Excuse me Yoshikawa san."

"What is it…? Koizumi kun was it?"

He just nodded and smiled at her as usual.

"Yeah, I was just wondering about the tests you made, any chance we could see the results?"

Yoshikawa san just sighed and raised her shoulders.

"Sorry; I was just hired to make the tests and take the samples, the analysis will be done by someone else and I'm not even allowed a quick look at the data; you know how strict these things can be."

"Oh I see… that's a shame."

Anyway, after that we said our goodbyes to them and boarded the bus; once inside Musujime san (who had been staying on the sidelines the whole day) spoke to us.

"Well now that we're done with that we should be going to the windowless building."

"The… what?"

Haruhi looked at her confused and Musujime san answered her with a really uninterested voice.

"Oh sorry… the windowless building is how we call the residence of the general director."

"Why?"

'_Chuckle'_ "Because it has now windows."

"Rea…"

"You'll see it soon enough…"

But in complete contrast with her smug attitude, her stomach made us know loud a clear that she was hungry _'Growl!'_ so much that she actually blushed a little and stuttered when she made the proposal we were expecting.

"But… how about we go get something to eat first?"

"Sure!"

"Great! I know an excellent restaurant; they sell some of the most wonderful salads around!"

And before she even heard us agreeing, Musujime san pressed a few buttons on the remote and we were now on our way towards lunch.

**Tokiwadai Middle School:**

Misaka Mikoto was quietly resting on her desk… Well more like trying to rest as she was now surrounded by every girl on her class and maybe a few from other classes, all of them trying to ask her the same questions she had been answering over and over since yesterday.

"For the last time, that wasn't me on the stage with Haruhi san, it was my sister!"

"But Misaka san, even if it was your 'sister' playing the drums you were still there, weren't you? I'm pretty sure I saw you in the audience."

"Well… yes I was…"

"So then you do know her!"

"Yeah, but I…"

"Not to mention, I saw her on the news yesterday and you were together with her."

"Yes, we… went shopping together."

As she affirmed their question all the girls got even closer to her, way beyond the line of personal space and almost to the point of making her feel claustrophobic.

"Wait a minute!"

Suddenly a pony tailed girl appeared from within the crowd to save her, she quickly grabbed Mikoto by the arm and teleported her to the safety of the female showers that were empty at this hour.

"Thank you Kuroko, you saved me back there."

"Don't worry about it Oneesama, it´s my pleasure to help you."

Then the Railgun stretched herself and looked around to see if there wasn't anybody around.

"I can't believe it! All it takes is one appearance on city wide T.V. and Haruhi san is already some kind of idol."

"It's only natural Oneesama, a performance of such caliber is bound to leave the audience dumbfounded and wanting for more."

"But still that doesn't mean her fans have to harass me just because they can't find her."

As soon as she got out of the dorm yesterday she had been constantly harassed by people that confused her with her sister; the worst part is that they wouldn't leave her alone even after she explained that it was her twin on screen; it got so bad that Kuroko had to teleport her in and out of school, and even there she had to hide herself on breaks so that the students would leave her alone; ironically the only time she wasn't constantly harassed by Suzumiya fans yesterday was when she was with the idol herself.

"It's only natural Oneesama; Uiharu, Saten san and me got off easy since we were only on the audience and it's not like we are public figures or anything, but since Ichigo chan was on the drums it's obvious people will confuse her with the Railgun herself; you should know that as the third ranked level 5 you're quite famous already."

"I know that…"

However Kuroko interrupted her and got her face right in front of hers.

"More importantly Oneesama! Why didn't you tell me you were going shopping with them yesterday?"

The teleporter's face got scary and Mikoto couldn't help but to take a step back.

"Well I thought that if told you, you'd make Uiharu do all your work and skip your duties altogether to come with us."

She was right; she would've done that and even more to spend time with her Oneesama and her almost equally perfect Imouto; still that didn't made her back away, rather she kept walking, making Mikoto take another step backwards and against a wall.

"Of course I would Oneesama, it's a miracle that your precious sister is with us right now and it's only natural for me to want to be together with you two; especially since that was my last chance to do so."

Mikoto sweat dropped a little when she noticed there was no place to escape.

"I see… let me tell you something, how about if we invite them to the School Garden tomorrow morning? I heard from Saten san that they're free at that time."

Suddenly the expression on Kuroko's face changed to the bright, honest smile of a child that just got what she wanted for Christmas.

"Seriously? That'd be perfect!"

So pretty Mikoto couldn't help but to smile back at her.

"Yeah, I'll call Saten san and tell her to contact them… now come on, classes should've begun by now."

She tried to push Kuroko back so she could go to her classroom but the teleporter had other plans in mind, taking advantage of her position she placed a hand against the wall and another one on Mikoto's chest.

"You know Oneesama… now that we're here in the showers we could…"

And that was the last thing she said before being electrocuted into unconsciousness.

**In front of The Windowless Building:**

After a pretty quiet lunch where nothing of particular interest happened (Unless you consider Musujime san preaching for an hour and a half about how everything we ate was going to kill us eventually interesting, which I don't) we finally got in front of the place that Aleister guy is supposed to live; it was a tall, white building with several spires and aerials jutting from the top; also I have to admit it completely honors its name as there're no windows, doors, air ducts, rat holes or anything that allows entry in sight.

"Wow! It really has no windows!"

Our dear leader stood in front of the structure, gazing at the thing with curiosity and excitement.

"Musujime san, how are we going to get in if there're no doors?"

Kanzaki san and Koizumi both got closer to our guide who answered them with a somehow evil grin on her face.

"Huh? What do you mean 'we' Koizumi san? I'm sorry but Suzumiya san is the only one authorized to go inside."

As she said that a feeling that was similar to the one we had when Haruhi said we were coming here appeared in all of us; Koizumi for his part made a great job keeping up his smile and try to reason with her.

"But Musujime san, I don't think…"

"It's ok Koizumi kun!"

However he was interrupted by none other than Haruhi herself.

"Mr. Crowley told me about this when we first talked about the visit… I must've forgot to mention it; sorry!"

She made a cute expression and then turned around towards Musujime san, completely oblivious about what was really going on; thanks to this we had no choice but to back out completely.

"So how are we going to get in Awaki chan?"

She cleared her throat and looked a little annoyed (I'm guessing she doesn't like someone she just met calling her by her first name.) but still managed to answer her properly.

"Suzumiya san, you're going to be teleported inside."

As she said that, Haruhi's expression changed to one of disbelief and amazement.

"What did you say?"

Then Musujime san got a weird grin on her face again.

"We're going to teleport you inside, this building has no entryway that a human could take, so the only way inside is via teleportation."

Then the disbelief left Haruhi's face leaving only the amazement.

"Really… you can do that?"

Musujime san pulled out the flashlight she carried on her belt, got closer to Haruhi and pointed at her with it.

"Of course… It's this simple."

Then she waved the thing around and Haruhi disappeared on the spot… WHAT THE HELL? She didn't even touch her or anything; she just shook that thing and Haruhi disappeared!

"Ok, now that's taken care of."

Musujime san turned around with a grin on her face.

"It's a shame he wouldn't allow me to go with her, getting out of here is going to be troublesome."

Before we could react, several steel beams flew towards us, covering Musujime san and hitting the side of the building. There was a horrible explosion like sound and just the shockwave caused by the impact of the beams was enough to make me fall and lose awareness for a second.

…

Once the dust settled Musujime san wasn't anywhere to be seen and Nagato, Ichigo san and Kanzaki san were scanning the area; from what I could see they hadn't been shaken by the explosion at all; pretty impressive!

"Is everyone ok? "

"Yeah!"

I got up and tried to help Asahina san who had fallen as well, she was trembling like mad and going by her face she must have been really scared, I even had to hold her so she wouldn't fall again.

"Are you ok Asahina san?"

She took a long breath and calmed herself.

"Yes, thank you Kyon kun!"

As I let the soft and delicate Asahina san stand up on her own again, I noticed Kanzaki san kicking the floor.

"Damn it! She got away!"

"Calm down, Kanzaki san!"

Koizumi got closer to her, for some reason he was carrying a medium sized paper sheet.

"But Koizumi san, we have to find her and…"

He interrupted her by showing her the paper.

"What's this?"

"A letter from Musujime san apparently, it appeared on my hands a few seconds after the attack."

I got closer to them after I made myself sure that Asahina san wasn't going to fall again.

"_Dear SOS Brigade._

_Sorry! I'm going to have to go away to finish some personal matters; but don't worry Suzumiya san should be done around three to four hours from now on and I'll be sure to pick her up… if I were you I'd wait for her around that building._

_P.D.: Don't worry about the garbage I left behind, I was told a truck will go pick it up before your precious leader comes back._

_P.D.2: Please don't get mad at me… it's nothing personal :-P "_

After she read it Kanzaki san just crumbled the thing violently and threw it away.

"Exhibitionist bitch!"

Then she noticed we were all staring at her and cleared her throat to recover her composure.

"Anyway… What should we do now?"

"It seems like we have no choice but to stay here."

Kanzaki san just looked at Koizumi and sighed.

"So it would seem."

"Are… are you sure it's safe?"

Asahina san spoke understandably worried as a little bit of trembling ness was coming back to her.

"Its fine, I don't detect any hostile presences nearby."

Huh? We all turned around to look at Nagato and noticed she walking away towards the direction those things flew at us.

"Nagato! Where are you going?"

She stopped completely and turned around in a perfect 180 degree angle.

"As per request from the System Administrator of the Misaka network I must attend to some duties related to a project we've been developing, also these duties overlap with a direct order from the Integrated Data Sentient Entity to investigate a certain individual."

Why is she…? Immediately Ichigo san got closer to her.

"Yuki, are you sure you're going to be alright…? Misaka voices her concern."

She just nodded at her.

"I'll be fine."

However she couldn't leave as Ichigo san grabbed her sleeve to prevent for going.

"But…"

I got closer to them and patted Ichigo san's head.

"Nagato… I'm not exactly sure about what's going on but… You are sure you are not biting more than you can handle right? You don't need our help?"

She just looked at me in the eyes and nodded.

"No, I'll be fine; someone coming with me would be counter-productive."

I chuckled and nodded as well.

"We'd just get in the way huh? Ok! Go get them! And remember to come back before Haruhi returns; we'll be waiting for you!"

"Yes."

She remained immobile looking at Ichigo san until she reluctantly let go of her sleeve, once she did that she turned around again and walked away.

"Ichigo san."

She looked at me, an expression that could only be described as sadness painted on her face.

"Like I said before, I'm not really sure about what's going on but…"

I took a little breath to say the next lines properly, if only because I wanted to emphasize about how important they are.

"Believe in Nagato… I'm ashamed to admit this, but we rely on her too much, no matter what the problem is, we always look at her for a solution and you know what? She has never failed us, not even once! If anything we're the ones that always screw up and need her help… it's kind of embarrassing but it's also a testament to how great she is; so don't worry about anything, I'll promise you she'll be back safe and sound!"

Ichigo san looked at me and then closed her eyes, not opening them until her face returned to her regular expression.

"I understand… Misaka says believing in you."

**War Report III (A)**

The strongest esper sat quietly on the bus that would take him to his destination, a place that was not unknown to him as it was the one where he got his first defeat at the hands of the hero with the spiky hair; now while on regular circumstances he'd never go back there, the person he was going to fight insisted for him to take her to that place.

"Oi Why do you want to fight me? My mission ended when I let that bitch get away, there's just no reason for it."

He looked at the girl in front of him; she had short hair and a petit figure, some would even say she was cute; he had seen her before on that town Last Order dragged him to last week, according to the brat she was supposed to be a humanoid interface, one so powerful her processing capabilities could easily surpass that of the entire Misaka network.

"It's needed."

Yet despite this, she was incredibly… taciturn, so far she only talked when he asked her something and said the minimum amount of words needed… heck most of the time she didn't even speak but rather just nod or shook her head.

"As you wish... You're the one who's wasting your life."

Quite frankly, he didn't want to fight her… not because he was scared of her or anything, but rather because these circumstances remind him a lot of the level shift experiment; the girl in front of him was even a member of the same network, she requested a fight much like the SISTERS used to do and they were going towards a place the experiment was held on.

"It's fine."

But at the same time… a part of him was curious, he had heard so much from the brat and the bastard that gave orders to GROUP about the humanoid interfaces that he just had to do this… of course he wasn't really planning on hurting the girl, let alone killing her, a simple spar to measure her abilities would be enough; after all she was responsible for him being back in top shape whenever he activated his powers so obviously he didn't want to lose that advantage… and there was also the thing about her being a good friend of the brat, after all he promised himself he wasn't going to make her cry no matter what.

"We've arrived."

The bus arrived at their destination and he quietly guided her to the switchyard, usually the place would be active at this hour, however the person behind GROUP told him he'd take care of the evacuation.

"Ok, so here we are… "

He moved towards the center of the place and turned around… he was going to ask her one last time.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

She just nodded.

"Ok… don't blame me if you get hurt!"

He activated the button on his chocker and threw his cane away.

"What the hell is this? My ability is still normal."

He had deduced she would disconnect from the network to cut his ability in half and give herself a better chance of survival, however when he activated his powers they were all at full gear.

She just nodded again "There's a replacement."

Accelerator just sighed; he couldn't understand this girl no matter how hard he tried so why bother?

"Whatever…" He looked at her defiantly "Bring it…"

He couldn't even finish his taunt as she immediately jumped at him at an incredible speed, she was reflected as expected, but since she was jumping it happened uniformly across her body and the result was her being thrown away from him.

"Crap!"

But the girl just landed on the floor again perfectly ok; Accelerator was shocked… the girl had jumped at him so fast that even though he was looking at her he was unable to react to it, not only that but while the redirection shouldn't have caused damage to her body since it was done evenly, the increased speed that happened as a result should've crippled her when she hit the floor.

"What kind of monster…?"

However that wasn't the why he was shocked… for his ability to work, Accelerator had filters in place so he could decide on what vectors to redirect, this meant that he had to analyze or at least know about the thing his powers were going to work beforehand… but this girl… while she was similar enough to a regular human for his ability to work on her; he could notice how below that exterior laid an infinity of data so complex that he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

Unfortunately he didn't have time to wonder about that, as the girl charged at him again, this time she moved to his right side and tried to hit him with a simple punch. Just like before her hand was redirected, however she seemed to be expecting this and maneuvered the rest of her body to counter for the added force, it was like she made a back flip just as she was punching him to stabilize her body and be pushed back instead of losing her arm.

"Oi bitch, what the hell you think you're doing?"

But now he knew why she was fighting him, she had managed to calculate the exact moment his redirection would occur and react accordingly, not unlike that bastard Kihara kun used to do before he sent him flying... however the fact that she rather retreat than to attack him meant one thing… she was analyzing him.

Once he reached that conclusion she charged towards him once again, this time he had already anticipated this and dashed backwards dodging her first blow just in time, it was incredible, this girl moved so fast it almost appeared to be instantaneous but he could still see she wasn't teleporting.

"I got you!"

By this point his previous resolve to not harm the girl had taken a back seat to the joy of battle, he stepped in and try to grab the arm that tried to hit him an instant ago, but he was unable as she jumped backwards just in time.

"I won't let you!"

Noticing how his prey was getting away, he used his ability on the ground at his feet to make a little explosion and immediately followed after her; she could perfectly avoid the debris that coming towards her, but thanks to this Accelerator could predict her movements and grabbed her by the arm.

"The hell…"

However he was unable to do anything more than that, he still was conscious enough to prevent harming her too badly, but he found that he couldn't do more than holding her by the arm.

"…are you…?"

Once he touched her a huge amount of data was transmitted to his brain… It was horrible; imagine if you were trying to crack down a password protected by security measures that are nearly impossible to bypass, the password keeps changing every second and the data it's encrypted in a foreign language you have never heard of and you wouldn't even begin to grasp how complicated and dangerous this data was; his head felt like it could split apart just by trying to make sense of it, let alone trying to decipher it.

Thanks to this, the girl could easily wrestle her arm away from him and retreat to a safe position, he could only stare at her as he did… the headache made him unable to do anything else. The girl watched him as he recovered from the shock of seeing a glimpse of the true nature behind their fight; part of her duties required her to show it to him, although judging by his reaction it was still too soon.

Meanwhile Accelerator was desperately trying to forget about the data he just witnessed, the pain should go away if he simply stopped thinking about it, but just like the most tempting riddles, it refused to leave his head without a fight which he slowly managed to win and push those thoughts to the back of his mind.

"External analysis complete… proceeding with the internal analysis."

Once he recovered enough he noticed how the girl was slowly walking towards him.

"The hell are you talking about…? Get away from me you freaking monster!"

She paid no attention to his warnings, something that would prove to be a fatal mistake as he quickly moved to kick a steel pipe that had fallen near him thanks to the previous explosion.

"Take that bitch!"

The pipe was so fast it went straight through her stomach, opening a huge gaping hole right on her tummy, blood gushing out of it like mad; at this point Accelerator should've realized he had broken his resolution not to hurt her and try to help… and he would've if he hadn't been in shock by the sight of the girl who didn't show any sign of being in pain, rather she just kept walking towards him as if nothing happened.

"Activating emergency mode."

"What…?"

Before he could react the girl appeared right behind him and held him by his shoulders, he tried to shake her off but it was useless, no matter what kind of vector manipulation he tried to use against her nothing happened.

"What are you doing? You freaking psycho! Let me go!"

Then he noticed how the girl slowly opened his mouth and move towards him; he tried to wrestle her off but it was useless, the girl was far stronger than him and he could do nothing but watch how she got closer to his neck and bit him… everything became fuzzy after that.

…

'_Mi…'_

Huh? The strongest esper slowly recovered his consciousness, he couldn't move though as he was in that state where the mind is awake but the body is asleep; in this dreamless sleep he could see remnants of the data that nearly destroyed his mind a few minutes ago… it was weird, the thing nearly made him go mad back then, but now that he that he was calm and relaxed it became far more manageable.

'_as… ka…'_

Accelerator opened his eyes reluctantly and they were met by another pair of eyes that were staring at him… the ones of that girl; she was sitting right beside him, needless to say waking up to see a vampire (or at least what he thought to be a vampire) staring at him was enough to startle even the strongest esper, made him stand up as fast as he could and back away from her.

"The hell…"

And that's when he noticed something important… that being that he was walking perfectly despite his chocker being off.

"Did you do to me?"

The girl just stood up and looked at him.

"Message."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

She pointed at his head.

"The details are in the message."

He looked at her confused but then slowly realized what she meant.

"You mean that mess is supposed to be a message?"

The girl nodded and so he tried to look at the data once again… but it was no good, he could now try to analyze it now without his head hurting too badly, yet that didn't mean that he could decipher it…

"LAST_ORDER."

"What…? What are you talking about?" The strongest esper looked at the girl again with even a bigger confusion than the first time… "What does the brat have to do with all this?"

"The key…"

"You mean the key of the message is LAST_ORDER?"

She nodded and once again he tried to decipher the data but using the words 'LAST_ORDER' as the key of every decryption algorithm he knew; a task that proved to be far more easier than it should be… there really wasn't a logical explanation but knowing the key made it a piece of cake.

"The hell is… this?"

"Memory data."

As the safe opened it was like a video played on his head; but if what the girl was saying is true then it's no different to the data commonly transferred on the Misaka network… a memory lived by another person.

"_Hi Accelerator, says Misaka politely as Misaka tries to hide her mischief."_

The brat was standing on the middle of something that looked like a classroom of that school they visited last week and if the time on the clock on the wall was correct, this was most likely 'filmed' back then.

"_If you're are watching this then chances are you already fought with Nagato san, says Misaka as Misaka wondering when would that be."_

The brat bowed respectfully, something she didn't do all that often.

"_I'm sorry, says Misaka as Misaka apologizes. I'm really sorry I can't root for you in that fight, says Misaka as Misaka wonders about who won… will win… whatever. "_

The she leaned forward to the 'camera' cheerfully.

"_You know… Nagato san is amazing! She can easily produce and program nano-machines that can change the composition of any organic organism; unfortunately she can only inject them through her mouth so if she did win you might have a bite or two around, says Misaka as Misaka reveals the reason she wants her to win."_

Then she moved back again as she looked a little sad.

"_Anyway what I wanted to say is that… I'm really grateful to you for saving Misaka's life and… I've always felt bad about what happened to you because of it, says Misaka as Misaka saddened."_

But then her bright smile shined on her face again.

"_That's why I asked Nagato san to teach me about nano-machine's theory and we've been working together to develop one that will help you going back to normal... She did most of the work though, says Misaka as Misaka cheerfully."_

And she put her hand on her chin to try to look smart… it still didn't work.

"_It's not perfect, but at the very least it should allow you to walk properly without a cane and even create one conscious reflection at a time without activating the chocker, it will also optimize the data transfer when it's active so the battery will last longer at the same level of operation, says Misaka as Misaka happily."_

Finally she just leaned towards the 'camera' again with a little blush and the brightest most beautiful smile she could do.

"_This is the secret project I was teasing you with the other day and… and it's also my thank you present for everything you've done for me, says Misaka as Misaka got something on her eyes."_

A few tiny tears could be seen on her eyes and she hastily wiped them off with her hands.

"_Anyway… What I want to say is… Thank you Accelerator, says Misaka as Misaka…"_

And just like that the memory was over.

'_Chuckle' _"That stupid brat… always doing unnecessary things…"

He covered his eyes with his hand so the girl couldn't see him, then took a long breath and stretched.

"So…"

But once he searched for the girl he noticed she was leaving.

"You going already?"

She stopped, turned around and nodded.

'_Tsk!' _"Whatever… Don't expect a thank you for this!"

The girl didn't react to his words.

"Just one thing… How did you stop my power that last time?"

That was the one thing he couldn't make sense of, the first time she stopped him by sending an incredible amount of extremely complicated data to overload his brain, but the second time he couldn't notice something was wrong… Even during his fight with the hero or against that bitch with the ribbon the other day he noticed how his power just wasn't working, but this time he could feel everything was right and it should have worked.

"I placed a select space of fluid data in the area around you into stasis and then by manipulating the removal of it at the corresponding end point in the space-time continuum I was able to move around while the vectors manipulations remained in stasis."

Accelerator eyes opened as wide as they could.

"You mean you stopped the friggin time around me?

"Yes."

Accelerator expression slowly changed from his usual grin into madness as he started laughing as fast as he could.

"I… I never stood a chance did I?"

Accelerator power worked by altering the values of any vector he got in contact with, however while this gave him a way to control pretty much anything he wished, it did have a small almost unexploitable weak point; every single physic equation has at least a few key components, most of them being of course vectors that determine several things… but one of them is a time constant that determines how much time have passed since the object was first affected, basically that meant that it doesn't matter how much he altered a vector, if time doesn't flow (the constant equals zero) then the object would not show any changes at all.

"That is wrong; this was just an exception that was required to analyze your ability… Emergency mode."

This confirmed one of Accelerator's suspicions; that there was another motive the girl was fighting him, if she just wanted to inject the nano-machines she would have done so from the beginning, and even if she needed some data about him she could have gotten it from the SISTERS, they should have a lot thanks to the experiment; but…

"_External analysis complete… proceeding with the internal analysis." _

Just what the hell did she do to him while he was asleep?

"_´Tsk!´_ Whatever!"

The girl just ignored his comment and turned around again to leave, however Accelerator still had something to say to her.

"Oi! Aren´t you gonna do something about that hole in your stomach."

Once she heard him, the girl just lowered her head to look at her exposed wound, muttered something and the hole disappeared, even her clothes were fixed.

"You can regenerate too? The hell woman! You have super strength, super speed, incredible analytical skills, the ability to send data directly into someone's brain, the ability to stop time and now this? Those idiots researching multi-skill would get their pants wet if they saw a monster like you; hell you almost make a monster like me look normal."

The girl didn't turn around but rather just said something:

"I'm not a monster… and neither are you."

And walked away.

"_´Tsk!´_ Whatever!"

And soon Accelerator followed her example and left that place.

"I suppose I should get the brat an ice cream or something… _´Evil Chuckle!´ _First was a level 0 with spiky hair and now a little girl on a sailor uniform… my reputation is going down the drain if anyone finds out about this."

Yet he couldn't care any less about that as he went to pick up the cane he threw away and go back home.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note: **Hello dear readers, this chapter was supposed to be published on the first year anniversary of this story, but unfortunately a few things happened in real life and coupled with this chapter being particularly hard to write for some reason; pushed back the release date for a few days, so now it celebrates the first 13 months and 5 days of this story... hurray!

I wanted to write a few thanks to the people that have supported this story so far, that being... you! Congratulations you're Awesome! I also wanted to give special thanks to the people in charge of both the Index and the Haruhi wikia for keeping the info up to date saving me a lot of rereads, keep up the excellent work! As well as the person who recommended this story on TV Tropes and the one who reviewed it there (Seriously you know your fic made it when it has it's own page on TV Tropes) Thanks a lot everyone.

Anyway, this is the final chapter of this Academy City arc, hope you all enjoyed the story so far because the best is yet to come... but enough talk, time to for the chapter itself, remember that all kind of criticisms are always welcome and... see you next chapter.

* * *

Aleister Crowley quietly floated on his glass tube as he awaited the arrival of his precious guest, the one he had been expecting for the longest time and now finally, according to the camera outside the building at least; should arrive right about… now.

"What do you mean _´this´_ simple…? Huh!"

Suddenly the high school girl that had been the object of his obsession for the last month or so appeared in front of him.

"Welcome Suzumiya san."

The girl turned around confused, examining the room until she fixated her eyes on the glass tube in the middle.

"My name is Edward Alexander Crowley the general director of the city, although I'd prefer if you called me Aleister, it's a pleasure to meet you."

'_Cling! Cling!'_

"This is awesome! What is it, some kind of life support device?"

It seemed during his introduction the girl had reduced the distance between them and was now carefully inspecting his glass tube and poking it with her finger; it's worth mentioning that this was the closest Aleister got to human contact in decades.

"Indeed it is, so please be extremely careful with it, I depend on this device to continue living."

The girl just took a step back, still smiling as if nothing happened.

"Yeah sorry about that… Anyway it's nice to meet you too Aleister san."

"Great, now that we're done with introductions I hope you don't mind if we move straight to the interview, as you can imagine I'm a busy man and I can't afford to waste time."

"Sure! No problem, I want to get on with it too… No offence, it's just that we have so little time on this city and there're so many things to see and do that I just don't want to spend too much time on this."

Then Crowley made a small yet creepy smile.

"Perfect, then let us begin shall we..."

**Chapter 18:**

A couple of hours after the disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi, we were still waiting for her in front of the windowless building; a garbage truck had come to pick up the steel beams about an hour ago, the people on it didn't asked any questions and just used some strange machinery to get the beams and go away… By the way I got to admit this building is pretty sturdy; I didn't notice at first because of the whole _'Haruhi has just been kidnapped and I can't do a damn thing about it!'_ Together with _'Nagato just went to do something dangerous and all I could do was encourage her because I'm freaking useless!' _But the structure took absolutely zero damage from the impact and looked just as neat as it did when we arrived.

About us, well… We weren't really doing anything at this point; everyone was far too preoccupied about what could happen to say anything.

'_Wedding march'_

Oh great! Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse…

'_Wedding march'_

Guess I've no choice but to answer her, better to excuse myself for a while, I don't want to temp the murderous auras right now.

"Yes?"

"_Hello Kyon darling."_

"Hi Shizuri, what can I do for you?"

"_Nothing, I was just calling to say hi, tell me… are you ok?"_

"Ehhhh… Yeah I'm fine."

"_I see, that's good to hear… anyway sorry to bother you, gotta go."_

She hung up before I could say anything back at her… That was weird, not only did she lacked her usual _'Sweetness'_ but somehow I got the feeling she was worried about something.

"Something wrong Kyon kun?"

I turned around to find everyone looking at me worried.

"No, nothing important…"

…

So after a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence I just couldn't take it anymore and tried to say something.

"So… What should we do now?"

Everyone turned to look at me when I made that question, but we all knew there was only one answer.

"Nothing, I hate to admit this, but there are only two things we can do right now, thinking and waiting…"

After this there was a long collective sigh.

"I guess something like this was inevitable."

That's weird, for some reason I thought Koizumi would be a lot more worried but he actually seemed rather calm.

"It was naïve for us to think that Crowley would let us be together with Suzumiya san when he interviewed her."

"Assuming that's what he's doing."

Kanzaki san for her part was visibly upset and the tone of her voice made no attempt to hide it.

"What do you mean Kaori?"

For a second it seemed like Kanzaki san was going to snap at Asahina san, but she managed to calm down before she did.

"Mikuru, this entire trip was nothing more than a diversion to cram as many test as they could without rising her suspicion… it's obvious that bastard wants her and who knows what's he doing to her right…"

"But… if he was going kidnap her then don't you think he would've done so from the beginning?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Not to mention, I think that if he was really planning to do so, we wouldn't be alive at this point."

As soon as Koizumi said those words Asahina san and me froze on the spot.

"What… what do you mean Koizumi?"

His face got even more serious than it already was.

"Kyon kun… the thing is we've been staying on his city the past few days and if half of what Motoharu told me about how much he controls this place is true, then he could've killed us and taken Suzumiya san anytime he wanted."

Well thank you Koizumi, I really would've appreciated that piece of information before I proposed coming here.

"Look at this place for an example, someone threw several steel beams at us and it didn't even cause a commotion, in fact beside us there's no one here."

"That's probably not his doing though…"

As she said those words Kanzaki san got closer to a nearby building and pointed at a weird card that was pasted on the wall.

"Look, this is an opila rune, it's a special spell that creates a field where no one but the people the caster allows can enter."

Then she made a sigh before coming back to us.

"As far as I know there's only one person that can do something like this and he's part of the team that was supposed to help us during this trip, and it's not only on this sector; I've noticed these cards pasted on several of the places we've visited."

Now that she mentions it, I think I heard something about that on T.V.

"So you're saying that in our efforts to keep Suzumiya san unaware of everything, we've doing exactly what he wanted us to do."

She just nodded at Koizumi's question.

"Still, it's not like we had a choice…"

After this there was another collective sigh and it was only about a minute later when Ichigo san (Who had been completely absent minded ever since Nagato left) spoke to us.

"But, I don't think the general director can afford to get rid of us, neither can he force Suzumiya san to do something against her will… Misaka states her honest opinion."

Makes sense; at the end of the day that Crowley guy is just as susceptible to Haruhi's powers as everyone else.

"That's true, but I doubt he hasn't taken that into account already; most likely everything that happened so far has been nothing but a well-staged play to sway her opinion."

There's that too I guess.

"I suppose you are correct Kanzaki san, it's the only course of action he can take right now…" Then Koizumi's face got a little serious "Suzumiya san did said she wasn't planning on staying here but…"

"Suzumiya san… no, we all had a really good time on this place."

"Not to mention, she's now an idol that's loved by the whole city… Misaka adds her 5 cents."

"And from what I heard, that guy can be pretty good at manipulating people."

…

"But there's no way Haruhi would want to stay here and leave us behind."

As I said those words everyone looked at me.

"She's our leader and our friend after all; there's no way she'd abandon us!"

**Heaven's Canceller Hospital (part I):**

Kamijou Touma was doing his best to recover himself, his previous battle had left him with a severely damaged neck and a small cranium fracture… he also had a deep cut on his abdomen, but according to the doctor that was the least of his worries.

"I'm telling you Kamiyan, she was like the Goddess of Moe; so much that I was completely startled to see something so perfect that I passed out almost instantly; but that just because it took me by surprise, I swear next time I see her I'll… "

However despite his pain, the thing that bothered him the most was that one of his friends decided to visit him after school; usually he wouldn't expect Aogami Pierce to come when he was in the hospital, so it was obvious he had some ulterior motives.

"So like I was saying Kamiyan… according to Komoe sensei you studied with Suzumiya san when you were in that stupid exchange program last month, did you?"

"Yeah, we were on the same class…"

"I can't believe it! Even when you're outside the city you still… Wait a minute? You wouldn't happen to know the Goddess of Moe would you?"

He looked at him with way too much excitement; Touma could do nothing but to sweat drop at his enthusiasm; to be honest when he heard about a _'Goddess of Moe'_ that was together with Suzumiya san, one person appeared immediately on his mind.

"Maybe… At the very least I think I know who you're talking about…"

Then his friend's face changed to that of jealousy incarnated.

"You… Why is it always…? Kamiyan you didn't raise her flag did you?"

At this almost threatening question, Touma could do nothing but to sweat drop even more.

"What are you talking about? Listen even if she's who I think it is, I barely even talked to her."

But the stare of his friend didn't back down.

"As if not talking to a girl prevented you for raising her flag before."

"That's not…"

But Aogami interrupted him before he could defend himself.

"There you go again, just look at the facts would you? You miss school for a couple of days and… BAM! New cute girl out of nowhere… actually I think that works as a pretty good description of your life."

"But Kamijou san hasn't raised my flag."

Both boys were interrupted by none other than the new cute girl herself, she was entering the room together with Index; they had left as soon as Aogami arrived since apparently Emiri needed to ask her a few things in private.

"I see, sorry Kimidori san…"

Aogami pierce was surprised by her sudden appearance and so he got terribly embarrassed by being caught red handed talking behind someone's back.

"It's ok."

However, she showed absolutely no signs of being upset and even smiled to him.

"But it is true that as things are now, it is my duty to remain by Kamijou san's side at all times and take care of his safety."

Aogami looked at his friend upset and could only mutter a "Really?" before Emiri answered him with a nod and a smile, then he sighed and lowered his head. "See, It's always like this…"

"Aogami?"

Then as Touma was beginning to worry for him, the guy stretched himself and made a long sigh.

"I guess there's no helping it… Well Kamiyan, I have to go now."

"Great, you think you could escort him outside Kimidori san?"

The girl just looked at him and smiled.

"Sure, I was on my way out as well since there're some businesses I need to attend."

"Great."

As the blue and green haired pair left the room, Touma turned his attention towards his nun roommate.

"Hey Index, what did Kimidori san wanted to ask you about?"

The nun answered him carelessly as she kept eating the melon breads the green haired girl had gotten for her; the ones which by the way, Touma was really grateful she bought since they made his partner forget she was supposed to be mad at him for not telling her about his fight yesterday.

"Emiri wanted to know a few things about a couple of magic spells."

"And you told her?"

Of course, Index being a walking library that contained nearly unlimited knowledge about magic was not allowed to go around blabbering about it… not that stopped her most of the time.

"Yeah, I was little reluctant at first but that woman told me I had to; it's not the first time she asks me about that either."

"I see… I really hope that… huh?"

But he was interrupted by a melon bread bag that was tossed on his lap.

"What's this?"

Then nun looked at him a little embarrassed, fidgeting her fingers and eventually looking down.

"That's your share Touma~… eat it so you can recover faster."

After that the nun blushed and turned around to keep eating, while Touma just sighed and gave the first bite to his bread.

"Well, no point worrying about it I guess."

**The windowless building:**

You know if it weren't because we're alone in the middle of a hostile city at the time the sun is beginning to fade away from the sky, I'd actually think that the purple glow this stupid building has during the night is pretty cool… Anyway, it's been nearly four hours since the disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi and I can honestly say I'm getting real nervous about everything, it's almost pass the time Musujime san said Haruhi would come back and we still haven't heard anything from her, not to mention Nagato hasn't come back either and…

"Thank god… Misaka says relieved."

I noticed Ichigo san mouth arched upwards quite considerably and then she turned around towards a nearby street; I looked in that direction as well and after a while a familiar silhouette appeared.

"Welcome back Nagato."

She just walked toward us and reunited with the group without even saying a word.

"Everything's ok?"

She just nodded and said a little "Yeah, everything's was just as planned… Nagato says casually."

Great, good to know the problem's solved… whatever it was.

"So basically, that flashlight you got there is a pointer that tells the teleportation machine that's on the building the coordinates it needs to work."

"Yes, that's correct Suzumiya san."

"Wow! That's pretty awesome!"

Huh? We heard two familiar voices coming from the opposite side of the building, and of course we turned around only to find our precious leader (Thank God she's ok!) and Musujime san… or how Kanzaki san likes to call her, the exhibitionist b…

"Hey, everyone! Sorry I made you wait for so long."

You know it's kind of funny how after nearly having a nervous breakdown waiting for her during almost four hours, she just comes back, smiling like nothing happened and somehow that is enough to calm us down.

"Don't worry about it, so how did it go?"

"Fine! You're not going to believe this, it turns out that the general director is…"

"Suzumiya san, remember that all the details about the interview with the general director are classified for security reasons; you signed a N.D.A. about it the other day didn't you?"

But of course she was interrupted by Musujime san, who was looking at me with arrogant smirk on her face… bi…

"Yeah, you're right, sorry about that Awaki chan."

At least Haruhi calling by her first name still annoys her.

'_Clears throat' _"Yeah, anyway we should go now, I still have to let you guys in the hotel and…"

"About that Awaki chan, do you think you could take us to the amusement park? We couldn't go yesterday and I kind of wanted to see it."

As Haruhi spoke, Musujime san face changed, the smirk disappeared replaced by a fake smile that read _'You have got to be kidding me, I wanna go home!'_ all over it.

"Well… yeah I guess so…"

"Great, let's go!"

"Yeah… _'sigh'_ let's just get on with this already…"

Then with the greatest amount of fake enthusiasm I've ever seen, Musujime san guided us back to the bus, as we were walking, everyone got around Haruhi.

"So how was the meeting Suzumiya san?"

"It was nice, he just asked me a few questions and then we had a little talk, nothing unusual."

"I see."

It seemed Koizumi wanted to press the issue, but a quick look at Musujime san later he seemed to realize it was better to wait until she wasn't around.

"Are you ok Haruhi san? I mean nothing happened to you or…"

"Not at all Kaori neesan, I'm perfectly ok, I was a little shocked when I first teleported, but the whole process is pretty safe, apparently they move things through the eleventh…"

"Suzumiya san!"

Haruhi just nodded at Musujime san and went on.

"But anyway, it practically instantaneous and you don't even feel it, so don't worry about it."

Kanzaki san just said a little "I see." And remained quiet; so I decided it was time to make the question we all wanted to ask her.

"So Haruhi, what about the scholarship…? Are you joining the circus?"

She stopped completely and looked at me dead serious.

"Kyon…"

But then broke into a beautiful smile.

"What are you talking about? I told you from the beginning my decision about that didn't I? Of course not!"

Then she held her elbow with her arm and placed her index finger on her mouth.

"Although he did say I should think about it more carefully and that if I changed my mind all I had to do was to contact him… but like I told to him I've already have a place back home with you guys and I wouldn't change it for anything."

Then she giggled a little and kept walking as the rest of us were left speechless.

"Eh… Why did you guys stop all of the sudden? Let's go! It's getting late and I just heard on the news that district 5 is closed to traffic due to an emergency or something so we're going to need to take a detour through district 18."

After hearing Musujime san's whining we all snapped out of our daze and followed her into the bus.

**Eviler than thou:**

In the dark of the night, one rather peculiar figure, clad in a yellow and brown dress that resembled that of a corrupted holy virgin, made her way through district 5 of Academy City almost effortlessly.

"What the heck is wrong with this place? There's no one here!"

So far she hadn't found any significant resistance, only a couple of Anti-Skill here and there that had been quickly taken out by her Divine Punishment and no one else; all in all the entire place was almost deserted, not something you'd expect of a city so early at night.

"Well if no one is coming to greet me then I might as well make my presence known."

She quickly picked up a radio that belonged to one of the Anti-Skill she just disposed of and then talked to it as if she was whispering at someone's ear.

"Hellooo, Aleister!"

She heard nothing but the voice of several Anti-Skill wondering what was going on.

"I know you must be eavesdropping on this line, so if you would be so kind as to address me quickly please… I've stuff to do."

Suddenly the signal cut out and then a switchover could be heard, complete with improved sound quality to boot.

"_What do you want?"_

"Finally someone to talk to, I was beginning to think this whole place was empty!"

"_I apologize for the cold welcome, but unfortunately we have better things to take care of right now… Sorry to disappoint you."_

"Better things to take care of…? How rude! But I guess I can't blame you… after all I'm exactly the same, I wanted to crush this city of yours into submission, but that's going to have to wait until I finish with her."

There was a small silence over the radio.

"_So God's Right seat does know about her."_

"So you bothered to do your homework about us, how nice! I suppose I should congratulate you."

Then from the radio a small sound that could almost be mistaken with a chuckle could be heard.

"_Such a waste, if you really believe that you can even dream of touching her then you're even more ignorant than I thought at first"_

"So much arrogance, listen I'm Vento of the Front, the ultimate weapon among the two billion and I'm going to crush you, your stupid city, the imagine breaker, the Index and first and foremost that stupid God wannabe who stole…"

But she was interrupted by the sight of someone that stood before her; That didn't prevent the person over the radio from talking though.

"_This is such a pity, I wanted to make use of your visit to test a few things on our end; but it seems that someone got ahead of me…"_

The woman crushed the radio with her hand and threw it away, never taking her eyes off the person in front of her.

"What do you want? I've got no time to deal with your kind, you heathen homunculus!"

The person in front of her, a high school girl with long blue hair and eyes that were the same color, slowly walked up to her and bowed as politely as she could.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Asakura Ryouko, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Vento was taken aback by the sudden display of kindness and such she remained quiet as the girl stood up from her bow.

"I must apologize, I'm currently summoned because of another matter that I much rather take care of, but according to the current deal we have, I must honor the orders from that woman and disable you from reaching Suzumiya san before I can do that, so please… die for me."

Suddenly a military knife appeared on the blue haired girl hands, as she quickly jumped towards Vento trying to stab her with it, fortunately for her, the walking church she used was enough for the knife to bounce out of her, giving the corrupted nun more than enough time to jump away.

"Is that cloth… magic? Such a mysterious…"

However Vento completely ignored her and interrupted her as if she was nothing.

"_Tsk! _What a pain! Obviously a pathetic homunculus such as you wouldn't feel any ill will towards anyone!"

The blue haired girl looked at her dead on the eyes and spoke in that tone that was creepy because of how kind and sweet it was.

"Ill will? I'm sorry but I don't understand those _feelings_ you organic life forms have… "

Then she placed the placed the tip of the knife on her lower lip, her face showing an expression of wonder and curiosity.

"Although I do believe I _felt_ one of those towards someone once; I'm not sure what it was: hate… lust, curiosity, perhaps it was that thing you call love, maybe I just wanted to kill him or maybe it was nothing…"

She put down the knife again as her face returned to normal

"But that doesn't matter right now, because you're not that person."

"Huh! The heck are you talking about? Stop babbling nonsense, you stupid thing!"

The girl paid no attention at Vento's taunt and only smiled at her, something that managed to make the nun angry.

"Don't smile in front of me, you freaking insult to God!"

Vento let a chain on her tongue fall out from her mouth and then hit the tip with the hammer she was carrying, almost immediately a wind bullet appeared to the side of the blue haired girl, who dashed forward towards her, dodging the projectile and closing the distance between them in an instant.

Having learned from her previous attack, the blue haired girl went for the only part of the nun skin that was visible. Vento moved back as she felt the knife grazing her face, then using this movement in her favor she turned her body around completely and hit the girl with her hammer right on the torso, knocking her out into a nearby electric pole.

"Who give you permission to touch me?"

Despite her words, Vento was shaken, she had only dodged that knife by a hair and she could feel blood slowly gushing out of a little cut on her cheek; she wiped it off as fast as she could, never losing sight of the blue haired girl.

"I guess this is to be expected."

The girl stood up as if nothing happened, not even the slightest hint of pain showing up on her face or any sight of an injury on her body.

"So I guess it is time to begin the experiment."

Vento slowly raised one of her eyebrows.

"Experiment? Didn't I tell you to stop babbling nonsense! I'm no one's experiment you freak!"

Vento once again swung the chain on her tongue and hit it with her hammer to create yet another wind bullet, this one appeared right in front of the blue haired girl; however instead of dodging it; she quickly transformed one of her arms in strange blade of light and cut it in half.

"I won't let you!"

However Vento had anticipated this reaction and hit the chain again, this time putting a bullet right behind her back; the girl noticed this and simply made a quick jump towards a nearby building, landing on the roof.

"It's so wonderful… That magic of yours."

The nun was going to chase after her, but something inside of her told her to stay put and keep her distance.

"You know, thanks to our constitution, it's nearly impossible for humanoid interfaces such as myself to wield such powers… unlike AIM where the integration is almost natural, the energy known as Telesma is simply beyond the current reach of our capabilities."

"Of course it is! Not even members of God's Right seat can handle it, so obviously a…"

"But ever since she came in contact with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, we've been investigating how to use magic ourselves; that simple 'spell' she got was fascinating and unlike anything we've ever seen and thanks to the data the other one gathered from the Index we've managed to establish a protocol to emulate that which you call mana."

The blue haired girl pulled out a couple of talismans from her pocket; she had gotten them from the man with the barcode on his face before coming here.

"It's so wonderful, to be chosen to be the first one to try it; although that's probably because I'm expendable and if it fails I'll just be discontinued and die."

Vento couldn't help but to feel disgusted about the girl that talked about her own death with a kind, tender smile on her face, like she was talking about puppies; no matter how she looked at it, the thing in front of her was an insult to everything Christianity stood for and should be eliminated.

"You know I've heard that this spell is one of the highest class, they even had to prepare it by pasting these talismans all over the district… it would've been better to begin soft testing with an easier one but I guess on this conditions there's no helping it..."

Suddenly, Vento could feel an enormous magical force resonating with the entire block… no, it was way bigger than that, more like resonating with the entire district.

"_Of the five elements that made this world, devour my body and give me the power."_

As she spoke, flames began to engulf not only her but the entire building she was in.

"_Come to me! Fire in the form of a sword; the fire that ignited the beginning."_

Then a gigantic humanoid figure made of fire appeared behind her, so enormous that it was easily taller as the highest skyscraper on the city.

"_Let go! My Innocentius."_

In an instant the giant extended his arm towards Vento, hitting the exact spot she was standing, vaporizing the entire area, leaving nothing on its path but scorched earth and a huge black burn on the place Vento of the Front used to be; and behind him, a satisfied Asakura looked at the destruction with a soft smile.

"I guess I was successful… how nice."

"Don't count me dead so easily you stupid thing!"

Yet that soft smile was changed with a confused face when she heard a voice coming from the distance, looking at the source she found the person she was fighting standing on a building just like she was.

"God's Right seat cannot be defeated so easily you freak!"

Asakura didn't pay any attention to the corrupted nun's taunts and just moved her arm to make the giant attack her.

"Again? You need to learn new tricks bitch!"

Despite what you might think, Vento wasn't bluffing, it was true that her strongest weapon, the cross of Divine Punishment was useless against her opponent and the wind hammer she carried was no match for a spell like this (Which appeared to be pope class at the very least.), heck if it wasn't because of her walking church she was sure the thing could roast her alive even from so far away.

"Because something like that won't work against me!"

But she had something to her advantage; she had originally come to this city to kill a God wannabe, but it doesn't matter how weak or heretic a god is, it's still a god and such from the beginning she knew her usual weapons might be useless… no, you could say that her Divine Punishment working on Suzumiya Haruhi was something she never considered as a possibility; and such, she needed another spell for her to use on combat, that way even if her Divine Punishment failed (And she was almost sure it would fail) she had something else to rely on.

Vento giggled a little as she put back the chain of Divine Punishment into her mouth, and her newest weapon slipped out of her tongue, as it was another chain right beside the other one, this one holding a cross that had the form of an anchor and was made completely out of ice.

Asakura continued her attack completely unconcerned, yet the giant was stopped by a couple icicles that were hundreds of meters in length that hit him right on the chest; so cold and powerful that even on the incredible heat the giant emanated they did not melted immediately, but rather pushed him back several dozens of meters, making the giant vaporize a few buildings on contact before stopping; despite this though, Innocentius was completely undamaged by the attack.

"Hey, abomination! You said you wanted to learn about magic did you?"

Asakura didn't answered Vento, but rather just stared at her with the same soft smile she had during the entire fight.

"Let me tell you something, I'm Vento of the Front, my element is the wind and such I possess complete control over it, and since wind is crucial on sailing I can partially control water based spells as well, especially if they are related to the sea…"

Suddenly several 'parts' of a fleet could be seen a few meters behind her and as if they were ghost ships, all of them were in pieces, only sporting the parts necessary to attack not caring about defense or mobility; yet the most notable thing of this ghost fleet was that they were all made completely out of ice.

"This is La Regina del Mare Adriático, I was planning on saving this to kill that heretic god you protect… but it seems like I have no choice. "

Usually members of God's Right seat purify their bodies from the Original sin in order to gain the capability of using Angelic magic, and in exchange they lose the capability to cast human magic, yet in her research of another spell she could use on her attack; Vento somehow gained the capability of using normal magic once more and such only had to do some modifications to the remnants of the spell Kamijou Touma destroyed in Italy to achieve her goal.

"You make me sick you monster… just die already!"

Suddenly millions of icicles even bigger than the ones from before began raining towards Asakura, simply destroying the building and the entire block she was standing, leaving nothing on its path other than ice and dust that raged from kilometers all around.

"What the hell is this?"

Yet Vento couldn't even gloat on her _victory _for a second as she was distracted by the effect of her own attack, one that seemed to _'break the world' _she was in, leaving nothing but a weird psychedelic wall as if it had hit some sort of invisible boundary.

"This entire district is under my data jurisdiction space, I control everything that goes on here."

Suddenly the entire urban landscape disappeared as the pieces of jigsaw being shattered by a hammer, leaving nothing but a twisted realm that was oddly geometrical in nature; it was after this transformation when Asakura appeared right in front of Vento completely undamaged, the giant made of fire nowhere to be seen; as she approached her, the corrupted nun shot without warning another wave of icicles directly at her.

"It's useless didn't I told you?"

Yet they were all but disintegrated by a strange force field that surrounded her.

"It seems that while controlling magic is viable for us now, is much better to rely on the traditional methods… I should've done this from the beginning."

…

Yet nothing happened; Vento looked around and on herself to see what was she supposed to be talking about.

"What's wrong? Wasn't something supposed to happen just now?"

As Vento taunted her, Asakura looked at her with confusion for a second before smiling.

"I see… Those clothes you're wearing must be one of those 'Walking churches' I've heard about, I'm impressed it was one thing to block my knife but to be able to stop my…"

Yet Asakura was interrupted since she had to dodge a gust of wind that was coming her way.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupted you freak?"

Once again confusion appeared on the blue haired girl's face and then disappeared again.

"It seems that even on my Data Jurisdiction Space I can't be too careless with you…"

Asakura raised her knife as Vento did the same with her wind hammer.

…

Yet before they could move they were stopped by an eerie sound, a loud metallic chime than rang through the air, then suddenly an explosion happened on the place Vento was standing and when the dust settled… she wasn't there anymore.

"It seems she got away…"

Suddenly the strange world of geometrical figures disappeared and was replaced by the completely undamaged district 5 of Academy city.

"Isn't that right Kimidori san?"

Suddenly she turned around to find another Humanoid Interface such as herself, the one currently assigned to investigate the man with the strange right hand and to keep an eye on her as well.

"So it would seem, the data containment field you constructed was penetrated by an unidentified stream of concentrated data."

"I see."

"You know, you need to be more careful, had I not been here some of the damage made on the field could've manifested on the real world and had you not placed the field at all, that ice attack she did might have done some serious damage to your…"

Yet Asakura ignored her and began walking south.

"Where are you going?"

"I've another matter to attend; we can discuss about this incident all you want after that is over."

"I see, but remember I need you to submit the data you managed to gather about Magic and Mana as soon as possible."

"Very well… you know it must be really easy to be you; all you do is observe, occasionally give a few orders and that's it… the conservative faction really is useless."

Yet despite the obvious insult, Kimidori san just smiled.

"You're wrong."

Asakura couldn't help but to turn around to look at her, the simple affirmation of someone like her to abandon her usual non-intrusive stance was enough to distract her for a while.

"I was obligated to intervene on a certain incident yesterday."

She raised her shirt to reveal a huge, deep, live wound on her torso that somehow wasn't bleeding, then in an unnerving display she used her free hand to search for something on it, finally pulling out an object she wasted no time showing to her peer… a simple white feather.

"I even went out of my way to obtain an interesting sample."

Meanwhile, far away from that place, a rather large man dressed clad in blue clothes was carrying Vento of the Front on one of his arms, in exactly the same way one would carry a towel to the pool.

"You know Acqua I'm actually awake, you don't need to carry me like this… is kind of degrading you know."

Then without hesitation, the man carefully placed his partner back on the ground.

"Sorry."

Once back on her feet, Vento took a second to fix her clothes before looking back at him.

"Never mind… Now would you mind telling me why did you interrupt me back there? I was about to…"

The man just let out a small chuckle.

"It was an order from Fiamma of the Right, you're to leave what you're doing immediately and be assigned to a different task altogether."

Vento raised one of her eyebrows in curiosity.

"And what could that task be…? Wait you don't mean…"

One nod from his partner was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"But… why?"

"It's needed, it is true that out all of us I'm the most qualified for it, but as you can probably understand, it's simply inappropriate for any of us but you to be assigned to be part of…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get your point… I suppose that means I need to dress up."

The man made another chuckle as his partner let out a sigh.

"No helping it I guess…"

Yet just as the man was preparing to leave, Vento had another question for him.

"By the way… just what were you doing here? I doubt you left your assignment just to get me, and I thought you were with the monster…"

"She found what she was looking for in this city… and I would be wary of calling her like that, if it weren't for her I wouldn't have been able to get you out of that containment field you were in."

Vento made a little _'Tsk!'_ "Whatever." And remained quiet as she followed her fellow member of God's Right seat out of the city.

**Back to the hotel:**

"That was awesome!"

We arrived back at the hotel quite late from our amusement park visit; ought to admit it was quite fun and I really enjoyed it.

"Well Suzumiya san, I must take my leave now."

"Ok, bye Awaki chan, be careful on the way back."

She looked at her with a little annoyance, before simply making a halfhearted bow and leaving.

'_Ringtone'_

Huh? No more than a second later after Musujime san left the lobby we could hear one phone ringing, and thank God it's not mine.

"Hi Saten chan, how are you?"

Haruhi got a little distance from us so she could speak privately, although we could still listen to this side of the conversation.

"Yeah, we just got back to the hotel from the amusement park."

"Sorry, I tried to contact you but the phone just wouldn't connect and…"

"School Garden? What's that?"

"Eh? Sure! Why not? It's not like we had something to do tomorrow morning."

"Ok, I'll tell everyone… by the way I'm going to need your help with something I'm preparing…"

Then in a weird display she got all quiet for a second, looked at me and went on speaking.

"I'll tell you the details in person ok?"

"Bye, we'll meet tomorrow then."

Then she hung up the phone and came back to us.

"Well everyone, Great News! Mikoto chan invited us to go to someplace named 'School Garden' tomorrow."

Oh yeah, I remember Ichigo san mentioning something about that back when she was explaining us about the city.

"But the thing is that apparently that place is owned by several all-girls school so only women are allowed in there."

Pretty sure she didn't mention anything about that though.

"Kyon, Koizumi kun I decided to entrust you with a special missions instead…"

"Excuse me sir?"

Huh? I noticed someone was calling me, so I turned around only to find one of the girls that helped me when I was carrying Haruhi back to the hotel yesterday; the one with the cute ahoge and the smiley accessory.

"Yeah, what can I do for you?"

Once I answered her she took a second to look at our group (Stopping a couple of times to look at Haruhi and Kanzaki san respectively for reasons I can only guess) before pulling out a keycard.

"There was a little malfunction in our automatic lock system; now don't worry your belongings were not compromised in any way, but we're going to need to exchange your keycard for a new one."

"Sure!"

I gave her my key and she gave me the one she had on her hands; on a simple examination I can tell that it looks exactly like the one I gave that red haired guy yesterday… but it's not like this things are too different from each other or something.

"I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience in the name of our hotel."

She bowed a little which made me feel a little embarrassed, so I could only smile at her and mumble.

"It's ok, don't worry about it."

Then she smiled back at me and left.

"That was pretty unfortunate Kyon…"

Funny, Haruhi seems a little pissed for some reason.

"Anyway, let's go back to our room shall we?"

Wait aren't you going to explain me the secret mission or whatever you were talking about, I couldn't listen.

"I'll explain the details of your mission tomorrow, so make sure to get a good night sleep."

Well… whatever you say dear leader… Anyway we quickly boarded the elevator, once in my floor and on the way to my room I had a little chance to speak with Koizumi.

"So… We're going to be separated from Suzumiya san tomorrow."

"So it would seem; I hope everything turns out all right."

"Yeah, but everything have been going smoothly so far, so I guess we can trust the people supporting us."

Suddenly Koizumi stopped, mainly because we just reached his room.

"I guess this is it… Good night Kyon kun."

"Good night."

Yet before he closed the door behind him, I just had to make one question.

"Hey Koizumi, if everyone is going to be taking care of Haruhi, then who's going to take care of us?"

He didn't answer me but rather just raised his shoulders and smiled, before closing his door… I got to admit that in front of an answer like that all I can do is sigh and hope everything turns up fine.

Anyway, I got to my room and unsurprisingly the new key I got opened it with no trouble and once I got inside I could see that… it was pretty much exactly the same way I left it… I don't get it, I thought they were going to use my room for something else but it seems they just made me change it for nothing, the only difference is that the clothes I left on the other room were brought to this one, nothing else.

"Oh well I doesn't matter… guess I'll watch some T.V. before sleeping… it's kind of like a habit by now."

"_And it seems today everyone's favorite idol was spotted on a certain high school."_

"_Really? But I thought the city's database only had her as a visitor?"_

"_Well, that might change soon, according to one of the students we interviewed, it seems she…"_

Ok, next.

"_And so the several fainted Anti-Skill members remain a mystery; in another news it seems some people reported suspicious activity on the juvenile hall in district 10…"_

Not in the mood for news right now.

"_On the previous episode of __Magical Powered Kanamin __Integral…"_

I think I'll just go to sleep.

**The next day:**

"You're…"

"Late I know."

She stared at me annoyed before we both burst out in laughter for a little while.

"As long as you understand it, then it's ok."

After the textbook example of an interrupted catchphrase, I arrived at the lobby dead last as usual and found not only the rest of the brigade but also Saten san and her friends as well as Unabara san; I quickly said hi to everyone before Haruhi got in the middle of the group.

"Well today is the last day and Mitsuki san already checked us out so... let's go shall we?"

She quickly gathered everyone and guided them towards the bus Unabara san had gotten for us.

"Wait a minute Haruhi, you haven't told me about the secret mission or whatever me and Koizumi have to do."

"Yeah, sorry I forgot, listen up Kyon, us girls are going to go to that School Garden place and there we're going to take care of a little something I need to do; but, since they don't let guys in I'm going to send you two on a special mission."

Yes, you said that almost verbatim yesterday.

"Listen, what I need you guys to do is…"

**Heaven's Canceller Hospital (part III):**

_Knock! Knock!_

"_Come in!"_

I opened the door to the room Haruhi gave me the address to, only to find no one else but the person that nearly destroys the universe a couple of weeks ago and of course his nun partner. Who would have thought that the mission Haruhi got for us was to visit him in the hospital?

"Hey Touma, Index san! How are you doing?"

"Kyon san, Koizumi san!"

We got into the room and took seat on a couple of nearby chairs.

"Nice to see you Touma, it's been a long time… Why are you here?"

Touma looked at me and then sighed.

"I bumped my head against something real hard."

He tried to laugh it off, but Koizumi just had to do the question I had on my mind.

"Was it because of Suzumiya san?"

His face got serious for a second.

"Something like that, nothing you should worry about though…"

I was going to protest that, but Index san interrupted me before I had the chance.

"Touma~! Stop talking light of your wounds! That's why you always end up in the hospital like this."

She pouted angrily as Touma sweat dropped.

"Index san… you wouldn't happen to still be angry because I didn't tell you about…"

But he was stopped by a horrible murderous aura.

"Of course I'm not!"

That doesn't sound too convincing… Anyway, after that there was a brief moment of uncomfortable silence, which lasted for a while until the door opened and revealed… a frog faced doctor.

"Hi…"

Now that's strange, the frog faced doctor looked at me for a second before shaking his head and moving on as if nothing happened.

"I just came to do a quick check up, shouldn't take too long."

He made a sign for us to leave which we quickly obeyed; after all when you're in a hospital you should always do what a doctor says… Anyway, while we waited we did a quick catch up with Index san, she mainly told us about how they'd quickly readjusted to their life on the city, found an old friend she hadn't seen in a while and a few other things.

"…And then Hyoka helped me find Touma in the hospital."

"Wow… what a fascinating story Index san."

Yeah, I admit I agree with Koizumi for once, it was somehow touching… Anyway after that he put on his usual butt kissing smile.

"By the way, are you helping with the operation to take care of Suzumiya san?"

She made a smile and a nod.

"Yeah… not that Touma would've let me, he didn't even tell me about it and I only found out because short hair told me… Kyon san you should've called me when you needed help."

She pouted angrily at me and for some reason I feel that now I sympathize with Touma a lot more.

"Sorry, but I didn't have your phone number, and I kind of thought that Touma would tell you."

Then her angry pout was changed for a face full of childlike amazement, as if the nun with the perfect memory had forgotten it was needed for me to have her number so I could call her.

"You don't? Wait, let me give it to you…"

We exchanged numbers (And I somehow ended up taking her phone to save my number on it) and then nodded at each other before Koizumi interrupted us.

"Now that you're done, Index san would you mind telling us about the operation?"

However she just raised her shoulders.

"Ok, but I really don't know much, the only thing I've done so far was going to the mall yesterday to meet with Hyoka, and I also gave some information about a couple of magic spells to Emiri."

Emiri? Pretty sure I've heard that name before… but I guess is not that uncommon.

"What about Touma san?"

The little nun pouted angrily again.

"I don't know, it's not like he ever tells me anything about what's he's doing… The only thing I know is that Thursday night he disappeared for several hours and came back home after Haruhi san appeared on T.V. and it seems that Friday he had a fight while I was with Hyoka having fun."

"I see… anything else you know."

She shook her head.

"No, that woman gives the orders directly to each person so I don't know what anybody else has been doing… Emiri has been going in and out a lot lately but I haven't asked her about it."

"Great, by the way, this Emiri person, who is…?"

But Koizumi was interrupted by the door opening.

"Done, sorry I took a little longer than expected."

The frog faced doctor let us all in, then in the second weird display of the day he kept staring at me as I was walking besides him to enter the room(I was the last one to do so).

"Stem cells, was it?"

Huh? What's this guy talking about?

"I was thinking about that, she lost her eye and has several burns around her eye socket ; if I enlist her in the experiment I'm planning I might be able to restore her face completely and if it fails, she can always fall back to prosthetics and cosmetics and it'll be fine."

Ok, I'm officially lost, I'm guessing he's probably talking about one of his patients but I have no idea why…

_"Stem cell research, this is amazing Kyon! They can use the cells in your umbilical cord to create pretty much any cell they want and it says here that in the future they'll be able to use them to erase scars and maybe even replace missing body parts like arms, eyes or internal organs; it's basically a form of regeneration!"_

Wait a minute wasn't that the thing Haruhi was reading about in a magazine when we first came here?

"You should give it a try; I mean there's nothing to lose is it?"

"Not at all, and if it's successful it might be one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine of the decade."

The guy just looked at me with his frog face and chuckled.

"I think I made up my mind, thank you young lad."

After he said that, he left towards another room.

"Weird."

Once inside Touma welcomed us again and so we had little chat for a couple of hours just like the one we had with Index san… well exception being that he refused to speak about the operation and always changed the subject when we tried bringing it up.

"Yeah, I get what you're saying but it's vice versa for me, Taniguchi san does remind me of him a little."

We laugh a little but we were interrupted by a sound from hell.

'_Funeral march.'_

You know I must be the only person in the world that gets happier when it listens to the funeral march than the wedding one.

"Hi."

"_Hey Kyon, we're already done over here, we'll be on the meeting spot in about twenty five minutes so I need you to be there by then."_

And so the call was cut, not even bothering to make sure I heard her properly… typical.

"It seems we have to leave."

I made a nod to Koizumi and he nodded back and stood up.

"I see, it was a pleasure to see you guys again."

"Same here thanks a lot for helping us."

Both me and Koizumi bowed in gratitude.

"Don't mention it; be sure to call me if something comes up."

"Bye bye, Kyon san and Smiley kun."

So after the goodbyes were done we made our way to the door, yet just as we were about to leave I heard Touma calling us.

"You're forgetting your luggage."

He pointed at a couple of bags whose existence I had completely forgotten.

"Oh yeah, those are presents sent to you from your fan club back home."

I passed one of the things towards his bed and immediately noticed I made a huge mistake thanks to a horrible murderous aura threatening to kill Touma on the spot.

"Touma~!"

He sweat dropped and quickly opened the bag.

"Wait a minute Index… I'm pretty sure these are just friendship presents."

And then pulled out the first package that he found… a little heart shaped box.

"See, this is… a box of Valentine chocolates."

"TOUMA~!"

"That was just a fluke, look the next one is…" _´Rustle! Rustle!´ _"…a homemade lunch that somehow hasn't discomposed yet and has a cute heart that says "I love you" spelled out in… "

…

"Wait… let me just…" He searched through the bag eventually finding the dullest package of them all… a simple paper bag. "…See there's no way this is a love present, it's just… a definitely used bottom piece of pink female lingerie… wait a minute."

Then giving up Touma sighed and carefully cleaned up the bandage on his head.

"Ok… go on."

The murderous aura was horrible, almost as bad as a certain yandere I know, then just as it was reaching its boiling point, Koizumi and me wisely decided to just leave quietly and quickly.

"TOUUMAA~!" _'Bite!' _"SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

As we heard the horrible cry of helplessness in the background, somehow the only thing I could comment was:

"I can't believe someone used us to carry her dirty underwear…"

Then in a somehow weird scene we both chuckled like idiots.

**Academy City, District 3:**

"Well… this is it Suzumiya san; it was a pleasure to have you on this city, I hope you return soon."

Unabara san said goodbye to us with his almost Koizumi like smile… he had taken the girls to that School Garden place and then waited on the door the whole time they were there… and somehow no matter how much I try to ignore it I'm still bothered by the way he looks at Ichigo san and Misaka san.

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun, bye bye Mitsuki san."

Haruhi said that with an almost sad tone, we've already done everything we needed in this place and it was only a matter of crossing the door to get out.

"Bye, bye Haruhi san, it was a pleasure to have you here."

Of course Saten san and the rest were here to say goodbye.

"Farewell my dear Ichigo chan… may we see each other again in the future."

And unpredictably Shirai san was nearly in tears by Ichigo san departure.

"Our time together was short but sweet and I'd really love if you stop by our city again… maybe this time by yourself… you know just me, Oneesama and you, we could take a bath together and…"

"Kuroko…!"

Luckily Misaka san stopped her before she could say anything else… seriously, how much innuendo does she think she can get away on a single goodbye.

"Goodbye everyone!"

Uiharu san bowed with a sweet smile.

"Good bye Haruhi san, everyone."

Mikoto san bowed as well and then moved closer to Ichigo san.

"Take care Ichigo chan."

And then gave her a hug.

"Yes Oneesama… Misaka says her goodbyes."

Anyway after that somehow warm scene it was our turn… it wasn't anything particularly symbolic, we just said our goodbyes quietly and got ready to go our own way.

"Bye everyone, remember you promised you'll come to visit on summer break!"

The girls just nodded and waved as Haruhi was left staring at them while standing right in front of the door, as if she was in some kind of trance.

"Are you ok Haruhi? You know is almost noon so maybe we could stay for lun…"

But as soon as I began talking to her it was like she snapped out or something.

"Noon? Is it already that late…?"

Funny, it kind of seems like she's blushing… but I couldn't wonder about that as she began pushing me towards the door.

"What's the matter Haruhi? Stop pushing…"

"Hey Haruhi san…" Huh? Saten san called out to us just as we were about to cross the door "…Well… you see…" She stuttered a little "…Remember you said you wanted to find something supernatural… well…" Then she took a long breath and smiled "… I know you'll find it someday, good luck and don't give up!" And finally she bowed.

Haruhi just looked at her, first with confusion, and then a smile slowly formed on her face until it was as bright as they come.

"Of course!"

Then she quietly pushed me outside.

"Farewell… Academy City."

And whispered those words with a hint of melancholy… once we got far enough she stopped completely and turned around to look at the city line on the distance.

"Well… I would've liked to stay a little longer…"

Then turned around with a huge smile on her face.

"It was a lot of fun!"

Then she quickly moved past us towards the bus station we used when we came here.

"But it's time to go home now, come on people!"

After this the rest of the brigade looked at each other and smiled, before following our dear leader back to our home, chance my fellow partners took to say a few words to me.

"It seems you were right Kyon san, coming here was the best decision."

"Yeah, I must admit I had my doubts at first but everything worked out in the end."

"Congratulation Kyon kun."

And of course Nagato, and Ichigo san just nodded at me, their mouths arching a little upwards.

"Thank you… But I must admit I'm worried, what's going to happen now?"

They all stopped for a second, I tried to say something else…

"Huh? What's wrong? Let's go we're going to miss the bus if you guys don't hurry, It's time to go back home!"

But our dear leader was calling us… You know, there're still a few things I'd like to know about this trip as well as a few questions I'd like answered; not to mention like I said before I doubt this is the last time we'll hear from this place, but… for the time being, I think those things can wait until we get back home.

**Omake**

**Farewell my friend:**

"…_Good luck and don't give up."_

After saying those words the long black haired girl remained looking at the door of the city like she was in a trance, it was only a few minutes later that one of her friends got closer to her.

"Saten san… Are you ok?"

"I couldn't tell her…"

She whispered those words quietly and with a hint of melancholy on her voice; then she smiled to herself and turned around to meet her worried friend.

"It seems it was possible for her to stay on this city for a few days and not notice anything, Misaka san."

"Who would've thought that could happen? Just bad luck I guess, but… why didn't you tell her?"

Then her characteristic playful grin slowly returned to her face.

"Because she wouldn´t like it if I did."

Mikoto could do nothing but to chuckle a little.

"See I told you so."

Then Saten stretched herself and turned towards the rest of her friends.

"It's almost time… but what do you girls say if we go get something to eat first …?"

Then a somehow malicious smile crept on her face.

"Or maybe Misaka san would rather we go to the hospital?"

As you can imagine that made the Tokiwadai Ace blush like mad.

"Of course not! I only suggested we visit him because... "

And then she started fidgeting with her fingers, just as Kuroko was noticing this reaction and was ready to intervene "Oneesama, don't tell me you…!" She was interrupted by another one of their friends.

"Hey..."

Uiharu got a little embarrassed and even blushed a little.

"Hey do you think they'll really…?"

"They will!"

All her friends answered at the same time, making Uiharu get even redder than before.

"No point worrying about that Uiharu, what's done is done… let's go!"

Saten quietly lead the way to the restaurant, dragging her friends with her and only taking a second to look back at the gate her friend just crossed. "Farewell Haruhi san… see you on summer." and walking away.

…

"By the way Oneesama, do you think you could convince Ichigo chan to…"

"Don't start Kuroko!"

**War Report IV (part I)**

"_So in the end she went back to her town."_

Right now, Aleister Crowley was having a video call conversation with a leader from a rival organization he had some treaties with... The Archbishop of the Church of England: Laura Stuart.

"Yes, that is unfortunately the case."

"_Funny… you don't seem troubled."_

And to be honest he wasn't, after all Aleister is a rather resourceful man, the possibility of her staying on the city was but one of many and of course he always had a backup plan for every single one; this not being an exception.

"_Then again you never seemed troubled about anything… not even when the best assassin of the Roman Catholic Church infiltrates your city."_

"So you know about that…? Then again I guess is only natural you do since I let your followers roam free and do whatever they wanted as per your request."

Then a chuckle could be heard from the screen, it was loud enough to be noticed but quiet enough to be elegant.

"_Yes, I'm really thankful for that; it would've been really troublesome to keep her unaware without your cooperation."_

"Don't mention it; it was in my best interests to help you."

Then the woman on the screen placed her index finger on her lower lip, trying to make a somehow cute and curious expression.

"But… if your intention wasn't for her stay, neither to let her know about anything… Then why did you invite her to the city?"

"I had my reasons."

After this they stared at each other through the camera for a little while before moving on with their conversation.

"So I've heard you been getting along with the Time Travelers Agency lately."

The Archbishop simply smiled.

"_Yes, they've been helping with my collection among other things."_

"Is that so? So you don't need me to send you new ones?"

"_Of course I do, I want as many as I can get… By the way, speaking about strange visitors, I've heard you let an agent of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity live in your city, that's quite surprising, I thought you'd be against the idea, unless… Maybe you just can't kick her out."_

There was some hints of truth to Laura's words, right now after the power demonstration made by two other humanoid interfaces, defeating the strongest esper and fighting equally with one of the strongest magicians and with the only weapon capable of dealing with her, Fuze=Kazakiri remaining notably untested and inactive; he currently lacked the means to dispose of her if he needed to… but then again there was no need to do so to begin with.

"I see no reason to not let her live here… after all her kind are such fascinating creatures, one could even call them a form Artificial Angels in their own right."

That simple term was enough for the Archbishop to drop her fake smile for a second.

"_I see… anyway, I'll order Styil and the Amakusa to retreat A.S.A.P. as you requested."_

"Great, I was afraid that since I even had to get jobs for them; now they'd decide to stay here, and that would be troublesome to say the least..."

_"Yes I understand… Well I must leave now; I have some matters to attend."_

"Ok, it was a pleasure talking to you."

They said their goodbyes to each other and ended the call.

After this Aleister took some time to consider his position, thanks to the previous incidents that happened throughout the weekend he had managed to determine several things.

The first thing was about the Time Traveler Agency; although at first one could confuse them with the worst enemy since they possessed information about the future that was simply unchallenged on every aspect; the way one single agent had managed to coordinate an operation like the one just happened was proof enough of this; heck for all he knows he could be a part of the Agency itself, making fighting against them an exercise in futility.

That is of course if they decided to fight him… Which they won't, their policy of not intervening on the past guarantied this; sure it was true that they're other groups of time travelers that don't share that point of view, but the Agency should take care of them for him.

The second was about the Integrated Data Sentient Entity; of all the things that opposed him, that was the most troublesome, currently capable of outperforming everything he could throw at them with ease; you only need to look at their creations, Fuze=Kazakiri and the Humanoid Interfaces to realize the difference.

To use an analogy, Fuze=Kazakiri was like a switchblade, while a Humanoid Interface was like a Swiss army knife; in theory the switchblade was better for combat, but just for that, the Swiss army knife was simply more useful at the end of the day; not to mention that the difference between them did not assured a victory for the switchblade user on a fight, and there was also the fact that while it had taken him decades to develop Fuze=Kazakiri, the Integrated Data Sentient Entity had created at least three Humanoid Interfaces in just three years… To be honest he wasn't even sure of where the thing was or even what it was.

But it did have weakness, none other than the reason it was investigating Suzumiya Haruhi to begin with… It had stopped evolving and it doesn't matter how advanced or perfect something is, there is one rule every living being had to obey, evolve or die; so Aleister knew it was just a matter of time until he could surpass it.

The third thing was the most puzzling… the complete disappearing of his backup plan for number 1; he had lost sight of him after his fight against the Imagine Breaker; he was far too distracted by Suzumiya and forgot about him for a second; sure since the evolution of Accelerator had been going smoothly he was becoming more and more unnecessary… But not only was he still needed for a final task, also there's the thing about someone managing to escape from his grasp, and that bothered him.

The last thing was about Suzumiya Haruhi herself, he had managed to gather a lot of data about her, so it was only a matter of analyzing it so he could…

"_Can you hear me? Aleister Crowley."_

Suddenly he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from one of the lines he monitored… the one that belonged to Heaven's Canceler; usually he would ignore things like this… but if that person thought he should listen to this voice then the least he could do was to grant his request.

"Who are you?"

"_My name is… John Smith."_

**Invisible War ¿END?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

I always thought it´s amazing how during a trip you always feel like it's been ages since you left home, yet later on, after you come back and try to remember the memories you made on it, everything feels like it happened so fast it might've been just a dream; it's something that always happens and right now I'm feeling exactly like that about our trip to Academy City, which doesn't make any sense since we just returned yesterday.

"Move it Kyon! We're going to be late for school!"

Yet thanks to my dear leader I'm already wishing I was back at the city… or at the very least really far away from her.

"But… '_pant!' _I…. _pant! _ Wait… '_gasps!'_"

"I can't believe it! We stop your training for a few days and you're like this already!"

"That's because… ' _pant!' _ You made me do… '_pant!'_ Four days worth of training!"

"Of course I did! We have to recover the lost time so what better way than to do all the exercises you missed all at once?"

I… I give up, forget it, I just don't have enough energy left to argue with her. Anyway where was I? Oh yes! Yesterday after we arrived at the station Haruhi sent us all home to rest and said we'd meet tomorrow in the club room to report our findings and celebrate a successful mission… An offer I was happy to accept, unknown to me she was planning to torture me like this.

By the way, in case anyone is wondering about her interview with that Aleister guy, then I regret to inform I'm doing that same thing myself… It's weird; she has absolutely no trouble talking about a few things she had to learn on that talk (For an example she told us about that teleportation thing Musujime san interrupted her before, something about a eleventh dimension mumbo jumbo that I'm not really sure makes any sense.) but on the other hand if you were to ask her about what she talked to him directly…

"_Nothing important really, he just asked me a few questions and then we chatted about a few things, and that was it."_

And it's completely impossible to get an answer better than that… and for some reason I don't feel that's something I should be asking either… I can't quite put my finger on it but she acts a little odd when we bring that subject… not sad, scared, or anything like that… just odd.

"Hey Kyon."

Suddenly she stopped in the middle of the road right before that stupid hill and turned around to await for my answer; however before giving it to her, I had to take a long breath to regain my composure.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I was wondering, have you felt weird now that the trip is over and we're not celebrities anymore?"

"Not really, then again I wasn't really a celebrity on the first place that would be just you and maybe Nagato and Ichigo san… Why the question though, missing the fame already?"

She placed her index finger on her lower lip as she looked away thinking.

"Not at all… and actually that's the problem, yesterday while we were on the train I might have been wondering whether or not I did the right thing turning the scholarship down."

"I thought the offer was still opened? So if you really…"

"It is opened, but Kyon I said I was wondering, not regretting, there's a difference you know."

She looked at me annoyed as she made that remark but then quickly got back to normal.

"But the thing is that I thought I was going to miss all the fame and stuff, that I was going to have trouble going back to normal, but… not at all, I feel perfectly at peace with that… and that worries me."

So that's what's wrong, this is surprising, who would've thought that Suzumiya Haruhi of all people would adapt to a normal lifestyle after what happened?

"Maybe you just like this place and enjoy being here? I mean it is your home after all."

She took a second to consider my remark but then just shook her head.

"Nah! It can't be that, maybe it's just that the whole thing was too short, yeah that's it! I didn't have a chance to get a good taste of it… I mean if it weren't for those royalty checks I'm going to get from now on the whole thing would fell like it was all a huge dream."

So I'm not the only one feeling like that… wait a minute did she said something about royalties just now?

"Excuse me."

Huh? Suddenly a nun approached us from the side, unlike Index san however this one wore a black habit with a silver cross on the chest and a few other details that I'm pretty sure would tell me which congregation she belongs to if I knew more about that stuff; what I do know however is that she's quite a beauty... Just a little observation, not like I'm getting weird ideas about… Never mind, anyway she looked at us with a beautiful smile and talked in Japanese which was kind of surprising since she appeared European.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me which way is the North High School?"

Haruhi quickly got in front of me and pointed towards the top of the hill.

"Sure Sister san, just go up the hill and you'll find it at the end; we're students there so if you want to…"

"I see, thank you for your assistance."

And so the nun went on her way towards… the opposite of what Haruhi just told her.

"Wait a minute!"

Haruhi quickly called her attention and she turned around still with a huge smile.

"Yes?"

"I just told you the school is on top of the hill right? Why are you going over there?"

She tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes you did say that."

"Ok, like I was saying we're stu…"

"I'm sorry for troubling you."

And so she was gone… In the wrong direction again.

"Is this woman for real? She just blew off everything I said."

Don't ask me, I think she honestly might be that much of an airhead.

"I don't know why I bother…"

She quickly got in front of the nun and grabbed her by the arm.

"Like I was saying Sister san, we're students at North High, so if you want we can take you there."

The nun looked at Haruhi with a smile.

"I see, that would be really helpful young lady…"

Then she brought her index finger to her lips as her eyes got lost in the big black hole that must be her mind.

"Could it be…?"

She pulled out a picture from her sleeve and then looked at it, then at Haruhi and then back at the picture… This was repeated several times until she carefully stored the picture again and got closer to her.

"Are you by some chance… Suzumiya Haruhi sama?"

Haruhi looked at her startled.

"Ye… Yeah?"

The nun quickly grabbed Haruhi's hands and held them towards her chest with a warm smile.

"I see; it's wonderful to be able meet you Suzumiya sama, I'm Orsola Aquinas."

The understandably confused Haruhi just looked at her like she was crazy and then carefully took her hands away from her.

"Yeah… nice to meet you I guess."

The nun chuckled, bowed and then said a small prayer in a language I couldn't understand.

"Well then I must be on my way."

And quickly walked away from us… and the school she was supposed to be going to.

"I'm not even going to try to stop her this time."

Yeah, I can relate with that feeling.

"But… What was that all about?"

"Don't ask me, maybe you picked up a few weird fans back in Academy City?"

"That's what I was thinking; I mean it was inevitable I guess… But why a nun? "

"Beats me, but at least she didn't look like a bad person."

"Not a bright one either, I swear is like that woman has a bird nest where her brain should be."

She sighed, to be honest I can think of a few reasons why there is a nun looking for Haruhi, but I better ask Koizumi or Kanzaki san before drawing any conclusions.

"Excuse me!"

Huh? Suddenly we could hear a child's voice from behind us; it was a cute little girl dressed like a nun, she had freckles on her face and twin braids that really complemented her blond hair; she was shyly and carefully pulling Haruhi's skirt to call her attention.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Excuse me; have you seen a woman dressed like me around here? She disappeared just as we woke up and…"

"Wait Sister Angelene!"

Suddenly, yet another nun appeared from behind the child and called her out, she was a young girl with short blond hair, dressed with a similar habit to that of other two, but with a miniskirt and stockings instead of a long skirt… Funny, I didn't thought nuns were allowed to dress like that, but honestly what do I know? I'm not going to complain about it. Anyway she quickly got between her partner and Haruhi, hugging the little girl and pulling her slowly away from us without actually acknowledging our presence.

"You mustn't bother people like that."

"But I…"

"It's ok; she wasn't being a bother or anything."

"Please don't…"

The nun turned around to see Haruhi defensively, yet once she saw her face, the girl's eyes opened as wide as they could be as she went completely silent.

…

"Huh? What's wrong Sister Lucia?"

The child looked at the eyes of her friend and then at what they were staring at, suddenly it was like the girl was having a realization upon seeing Haruhi's face and slowly opened her eyes and blushed, then in an instant both nuns reacted together and bowed to her.

"Sorry for bothering you!"

There was a brief silence were no one said a thing before Haruhi finally reacted.

"Eh… Don't worry about it."

Despite being understandably confused, it seemed Haruhi didn't mind the 'not at all suspicious' performance; even when they didn't move after she said she didn't care and just stood there waiting for her to say something else.

"I'm guessing you girls are looking for the other nun that was around here, the one who talked like a grandma."

Both girls just nodded.

"I see… If that's the case she went that way."

The nuns looked at the direction Haruhi was pointing and then bowed again.

"Thank you very much for your assistance!"

"No problem! Just be careful with the other sister, she might walk off a cliff if you leave her alone."

The nuns just nodded and then quickly got away, Haruhi waved at them as they left before turning back to me.

"Hey Kyon, do you know if there's a convent or something nearby?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Maybe they build a new one or something… Still it's strange to see so many nuns around here."

Then she chuckled.

"But unlike the first one, these last two were actually pretty nice."

"Really, I thought you'd say they were suspicious."

"Not at all! It's just the typical pair of the cute and inexperienced little sister and the more responsible and overprotective older sister at work; nothing unusual."

If you say so…

"Anyway Kyon it's pretty late so we better get going!"

Haruhi shook her head and then quickly grabbed me by the arm, carelessly dragging me towards our school.

**Lunch Break.**

After a pretty boring morning filled with the standard high school lecture that no one actually listens to, it was finally time for me to enjoy the (hopefully) delicious contents of my lunchbox.

"Hey Kyon!"

Or maybe not.

"What's wrong Haruhi?"

I turned around to see her and as I did, I found out what was probably the reason she was calling me.

"Come with me for a second will you?"

She didn't wait for an answer and just dragged me towards the doorway, where four girls where waiting for us.

"Good morning, Enomoto san, Nakanishi san, Okajima san, Zaizen san."

The four members of the band ENOZ to be precise, they made a quick greeting and then lined up in front of Haruhi and bowed.

"Thank you very much!"

Something that took her completely by surprise despite probably having a good idea of what this was all about.

"Ehhh…!"

And before she could react, all the girls got closer to her while Enomoto san grabbed her hands.

"You sang our song to the people of Academy city didn't you?"

"Yes but I…"

Then Nakanishi san interrupted her.

"Thanks to you mentioning us during your performance, our popularity skyrocketed! We even got nearly a million downloads before the website collapsed!"

"Now that I remember, I did say they should…"

Now it was Okajima san turn to speak.

"Our agent showed us the video, you've improved greatly Suzumiya san, Nagato san and her friend were brilliant too."

"Agent? I thought you girls weren't…"

And finally Zaizen san completed the circle.

"Yes we got a call on Friday from Academy City… Suzumiya san, thanks to you we have an offer to record our first album!"

Haruhi was left speechless; it was only after a brief silence that she could speak again.

"No… no way! Congratulations!"

The girls took a little distance again.

"Thank you Suzumiya san, it's all thanks to you, but…"

"But… What?"

The girls of ENOZ got serious all of the sudden.

"There's a condition, in order for them to give us a contract we need to convince you and your friends to record a special version of a couple of songs with us."

And they all bowed again.

"Please Suzumiya san!"

Once again Haruhi was taken by surprise; she slowly began to stutter a few words that I suppose were trying to answer such a sudden proposal.

"Well… I… but Yuki and Ichigo chan…"

"We already talked to them and they said they'd do it as long as you agreed."

She thought about it for a second, still stuttering a few words to try and buy time.

"Well… then… I…"

Before taking a deep breath and calming herself.

"Sure! You girls can count on me!"

Suddenly it was like she just snapped out of all her doubts and recovered all of her usual confidence.

"Thank you very much Suzumiya san!"

And just like that, the girls of ENOZ ran up to her and hugged her together; the joy of seeing their dreams come true making them forget the simple concept of personal space… I don't blame them for that though. Anyway, I decided to leave the girls alone in their group hug, it's getting late and I don't want to skip lunch.

…

"Hey Kyon! I thought I told you to accompany me while I talked to them."

As I was enjoying my well deserved meal, I was interrupted by my leader who had come back into the classroom, however despite her harsh words; a huge, pure smile was covering her face.

"Sorry, I'm not one to join group hugs uninvited… It's just not right you know."

She chuckled.

"Yeah can't blame you for that… You're still in trouble though."

Then in a sudden flash, she quickly took one of the side dishes on my lunch box and ate it, so fast I couldn't even react until it was too late.

"Hey…"

"But I think I'll let you off easy today…"

She laughed out loud and sat back into her seat.

"So when are you girls recording?"

"We're not sure yet, they told me it should be about a month or two from now on, so we have to keep on practicing and they'd call us when the time comes; they also invited us to rehearse with them after school."

"That makes sense, anyway… What are your plans with this? If you wanted you could use this opportunity to…"

"I'll think about that when the time comes Kyon, there's no point in worrying about that now when we have other important things to care of."

Agreed, and following Haruhi's advice I believe it's time I focus the other important things right now… My lunch.

**After school.**

In a somehow predictable turn of events, our reunion to talk about our findings on the trip to Academy City wasn't productive in the slightest; The only thing we did was looking at the pictures Asahina san took; though I must admit that was pretty enjoyable, I mean just browsing through them and remembering all the stuff we lived together brought a smile to my face, and I wasn't the only one at that, even Nagato and Ichigo san mouths were arching upwards almost noticeably.

"Well I guess with this we turn the final page of our trip to Academy City."

Haruhi closed the window showing the last picture and then fell on her chair.

"Seriously, that place wasn't like I thought I would be, but I had a wonderful time there."

You know, I hate to be the one to bring this up, but I need to make sure this trip accomplished its true goal.

"Really? I thought you'd be disappointed since we didn't find anything supernatural."

She looked at me disgusted for a second but then just sighed.

"That's true, we didn't find any aliens, time travelers, espers, sliders or magicians… But everything we saw was so amazing in its own right I don't feel disappointed in the slightest."

I couldn't help but to chuckle a little, then again I can see where she's coming from.

"I'm not going to lie, I doubt we saw even a tenth of what that city has to offer and I would love to go back there one day, but I guess you could say that I'm satisfied with the results of our trip… for now at least. Why the question though?"

"Nothing, I was just curious."

And with that no sooner than later everything was back to normal: me playing games with Koizumi, Nagato and Ichigo san reading in synchrony, Kanzaki san, Asahina san and Haruhi drinking tea and having an occasional chat about anything, you know the usual stuff.

But I have to admit that after all the stress we went through ever since Touma arrived at this school; spending an entire afternoon without having to worry about anything and just hanging out together and relaxing felt really… nice.

…

"Well, time to go home everyone."

Already? Man time sure flew today… Anyway I started packing all my stuff and so did everyone else.

"See ya tomorrow, by the way Ichigo chan and Yuki, would you mind if I joined you girls on the way back home, I want to discuss about the whole band affair."

Both Nagato and Ichigo san nodded.

"Perfect! Enomoto san told me we should set up a schedule for our rehearsals, and since I don't want them to interfere with the regular activities of the brigade…"

As she said that, Haruhi quickly said her goodbyes and dragged them away, leaving the rest of us alone in the room as we prepared to leave.

"Seriously, do you guys believe is a good idea for her to become a public figure?"

"Too late to stop her Kanzaki san, but maybe this'll turn for the better."

Kanzaki san looked at Kozumi and sighed.

"I hope you're right…"

"By the way Kanzaki san, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Suddenly Koizumi got serious all of the sudden, but of course keeping his usual smile.

"I was wondering if you knew something about a little rumor I heard; it seems a new church is being built on this town."

Kanzaki san got serious as well.

"A church? What kind of church?"

Suddenly the air around these two got incredibly tense.

"I don't know, I just got the information this morning and I thought I'd ask you since you're part of the magic side."

"I haven't heard anything about that… Any idea when it happened?"

"I imagine it was while we were in Academy City, maybe a little earlier since we were distracted with our preparations."

But before they could continue, Asahina san interrupted them.

"But, why is it a big deal that church was built on this town?"

"Mikuru, remember that Haruhi san is kind of a delicate topic on the magic side right now, my church accepted the mission to protect her… but others might not have the same idea, so we must keep an eye on them to prevent anything bad from happening."

Kanzaki san sighed again and took seat.

"Listen for what I know only the Anglican church I belong to and the Roman Catholic Church knows about her, so it's extremely important that we..."

I think I remember Tatemiya san saying something about that back when I first met him… speaking about that.

"Kanzaki san, this morning when I was walking to school with Haruhi we found three nuns on the way, do you think they're related to this?"

Suddenly everyone got quiet as their sights focused on me, Kanzaki san in particular seemed really worried.

"Three nuns? Could you tell us more about them Kyon san?"

"Well, they were all foreigners with blond hair, the first one was kind of an airhead who kept doing the exact opposite of what Haruhi told her to do, and the other two were like siblings I guess, you know the typical pair of the cute and inexperienced little sister and the more responsible and overprotective older sister."

"What about their habits? How were they dressed?"

"Well, I don't know much about that, they wore regular habits I guess; the only thing that called my attention was that they had a silver cross on their chest… Also one of them wore a miniskirt and stockings instead of a long skirt."

"And what were they doing? Did they act suspiciously?"

"Well the first one was looking for our school, but she went away after recognizing Haruhi and introducing herself to her; the other two were just looking for the first one, they also seemed to recognize Haruhi as well, but they kind of panicked instead of introducing themselves."

Kanzaki san seemed lost in thought for a second.

"I see…

Before lowering her head and sighing

"I think I know what's going on."

Then she took a long breath.

"Listen, if my suppositions are correct then that church must belong to my organization."

"If that's true then why didn't they told you anything?"

Suddenly a couple of veins popped out of Kanzaki san's forehead.

"I don't know… But I could think of a few reasons."

Funny, on one side I'm curious about what those reasons could be, but those veins are telling me I shouldn't ask.

"Listen, I'm going to check that place and confirm my suspicions, I'll report tomorrow and…"

"Actually Kanzaki san, if that's the case I was wondering if you'd let us accompany you."

She seemed surprised at Koizumi's proposal, but didn't object it.

"Sure, if that's really a friendly Church I suppose it would be more convenient to get the introductions done."

Then her face went serious for a second.

"But keep in mind one thing, if for some reason I'm wrong and worse comes to worse…"

"Then we'll let you take care of it Kaori."

Asahina san nodded at Kanzaki san with a smile.

"Great, remember you always need to be careful. Anyway we should go now before it gets late; do you have the address of the church Koizumi san?"

"Sure, I got it from the organization."

"Perfect, let's go."

Then Kanzaki san led the way with Koizumi following after her, I was planning to do the same but suddenly I heard Asahina san calling for me with her weak, somewhat shy but always cute voice.

"Hey Kyon kun."

"What is it Asahina san?"

Then she blushed slightly, slowly stuttering the words she wanted to say.

"Well… I… I just wanted to ask you something…"

But before making her question, Asahina san blushed a lot for some reason.

"I… I… It's nothing important, don't worry about it."

"Eh… Ok, you know, now that I think about it I wanted to ask you something too."

As her blush quietly leaved her face, the little angel know as Asahina Mikuru standing before me placed her index finger on her lower lip and then tilted her head slightly.

"What could it be?"

"Well, there's something that has been bothering me for a while; what did you girls do on that School Garden place? I noticed you barely took pictures of it."

Asahina blushed again, this time so fiercely I thought she was going to pass out.

"That was… I… Suzumiya made us…"

Then Kanzaki san interrupted us with perfect timing.

"What's wrong you two? Let's go!"

"I'm going Kaori!"

Asahina san quickly went pass me and joined Kanzaki san at the door, literally fleeing from my question which of course only made me more curious about it.

**A few minutes later.**

We arrived at our destination quite quickly; it was really close to the hill our school is and only a few blocks away from my morning route so it was easy to find.

"Well, this seems to be it."

The church was still under construction, although most of the main structure seemed to be done and the only thing left were to polish some details; quite remarkable when you consider I'm pretty sure this building wasn't here on Wednesday. But still the thing that called my attention the most was that every single person working on the construction was a nun.

"It seems I was right."

Kanzaki san breathed a sigh of relief and called out to a sister that was mixing paint near the entrance.

"Excuse me, is Agnese Sanctis around here?"

The nun took a second to acknowledge Kanzaki san before nodding and then quickly ran into the church; no more than a minute later the girl returned with an strange sister, she had red hair tied in braids that looked kind of like dreadlocks from the distance, wore a habit with a miniskirt, no stockings and platform shoes that were easily 30cm high.

"So it was you Kanzaki."

The sister then took a moment to look at our group.

"And you must be…?"

"These are the members of the SOS Brigade; we're missing three of us though."

The sister seemed extremely surprised when she realized who we were.

"I see… I apologize for the late introduction; I'm Agnese Sanctis from Necessarius."

It's funny because she had kind of an uptight attitude till now (Although I assume she's the leader of these nuns so I guess that's to be expected), but now she seemed like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

"Nice to meet you Agnese san, I'm Asahina Mikuru."

"Koizumi Itsuki."

"And I'm…"

But just when I was about to introduce myself, Agnese san's balance betrayed her as she began to tumble back and forth, I quickly extended my hand to try to help her, but she grabbed me and then pulled me together with her and... Nothing I stood firmly and helped her regain her footing.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, thank you…?"

"Just call me Kyon."

Her eyes opened as wide as they could be when I said that stupid nickname.

"Kyon…? You're the one closest to…"

She hastily let go of my hand and bowed.

"Thanks a lot for saving me!"

You know this whole 'the one closest to her' or whatever business is kind of uncomfortable after a while.

"Yeah don't worry about it."

"No, I mean… another person might have just fallen with me and landed with his face between my… " Then she blushed and bowed again "I mean thank you very much for helping me!"

"It's ok; you were pretty light so it wasn't a problem."

Seriously, she must weight like 40kg at most, I'd have to be either really careless or completely unlucky to let myself fall to the ground for something like that; either way Agnese san took a moment to calm her breathing before moving on.

"We should talk inside; it's not safe here since we haven't finished the barrier around the outside perimeter."

We all nodded as I noticed we were getting used to this kind of things by now.

"Follow me, the main altar is still being worked on so please be careful; we're going to the meeting room on the back."

Once inside I could see that while the interior was still pretty rough around the edges, most of it was pretty much finished and nearly everything one would expect to find in this kind of church was already there… I must remember to hire nuns if I ever need to build something. Anyway she led us through a door behind the main hall into a big office with a huge table in the middle but no chairs for some reason.

"Sorry, the moving company still hasn't delivered all of our furniture."

"Don't worry about it."

Kanzaki san quickly stood in front of Agnese san.

"I'll go straight to the point, why are the Agnese forces on this town? There should be no need to have battle nuns here."

Battle nuns! Just what the…? Forget it, that's still more believable than the legendary maids from last week.

"Our mission is to extend Necessarius' influence on this town."

However Kanzaki san just stared at her.

"And also to establish a defensive perimeter to protect Suzumiya sama."

"Why was I not informed of this?"

"You weren't? Sorry I don't know anything about that, the orders came straight from the Archbishop so I figured out she would take care of everything."

"I see, so my suspicions were correct…"

Suddenly Kanzaki san sighed, completely destroying the somewhat serious atmosphere that was lingering on the room.

"….Something else I should know about this?"

"No I don't think so."

"What about Orsola Aquinas? I heard from Kyon san that she was here too. Why did you bring someone specialized in decoding magical texts?"

"No reason, she just insisted in coming since she wanted to meet Suzumiya sama, now that's done I guess she should be going back to England shortly."

"Sounds like something she would do."

Agnese san nodded at Kanzaki san and then turned towards me.

"I'm deeply sorry for the incident this morning; it is our mission to prevent Suzumiya sama from learning about the corruption that exists in this world, so our fault today was inexcusable, I promise we'll be more careful in the future."

She bowed.

"Don't worry about it, she didn't suspect a thing."

"Really? That's wonderful!"

"Excuse me Sister Agnese."

The door of the room opened to reveal the two nuns I meet this morning, the little girl with the twin braids and the blond girl dressed with a miniskirt and stockings.

"What is it? Sister Lucia, Sister Angelene."

They entered the room in a hurry, hastily closing the door behind them.

"We can't activate the spell, something keeps blocking our…"

But their attitude changed when they noticed us.

"Kanzaki and… You're the one that was with that person this morning!"

"Yes, these people are members of the SOS Brigade, they're Koizumi san, Asahina san and Kyon san; everyone, these are Sister Lucia and Sister Angelene, they're part of our force."

As they were introduced both sisters bowed in unison.

"We're really sorry for the incident this morning!"

That again? It's was no big deal really.

"Don't worry about it."

Then Agnese san talked to them.

"So what happened?"

The little nun got in front of her partner and spoke.

"The activation of the surveillance circle failed for the third time, it's impossible."

"Why? "

The sister with miniskirt and stockings… that is to say Lucia san was the one who answered her this time.

"We don't know, something is interfering with the activation but we have no idea what it is yet."

"I understand… Could it be an en…?"

"Excuse me Agnese san, would you mind explaining to us what's happening?"

Koizumi interrupted the nuns and thanks to him taken them by surprise, managed to get an answer a lot easier that it probably would've been under regular circumstances.

"Yeah, in order to protect Suzumiya sama we're trying to cast a spell that collects information about nearby magical sources and pinpoints their locations."

"So once you get this spell working you should be able to see if there're other magicians nearby and react accordingly."

"That's correct, unfortunately the spell requires a lot of preparations and is very difficult to cast properly so it's not very practical, but once we do cast it, it'll be impossible for anyone to use magic around here without us knowing about it."

As she said that Koizumi's smile grew a little wider, as his voice got a lot more serious.

"I see, In that case I think I can make you a proposition."

Agnese san suddenly got serious as well.

"What do you mean Koizumi san?"

"I work for an organization that's also interested in protecting Suzumiya san; our current methods have proven to be effective in anticipating threats when they're from the science side, but unfortunately we currently lack the means to do just that when they're magical in nature."

"So you're proposing cooperation between the two factions?"

"That's right; I believe is in our best interests that we work together."

Agnese san took a few moments to think.

"I suppose you could help us establish ourselves in this place and if our goals are the same I can see the benefits in sharing information."

Then she looked at Kanzaki san, who nodded as if she was answering a question that was never asked.

"I see… I agree with your proposal, but currently I'm not in a position that lets me take those kinds of decisions by myself; I'll talk to my superiors and try to see if I can convince them, then I'll send you their answer through Kanzaki."

Koizumi chuckled slightly as his smile got a little bit of self satisfaction to it.

"I understand; I'll await for your answer then."

Agnese san nodded.

"Well if that's everything then I hope you'll excuse me as I have other matters to attend."

"Yes, thank you Agnese san."

But it seemed Kanzaki san had something to say.

"I still have one last question."

"What is it?"

"What's the name of this church?"

Agnese san took a long breath.

"Officially this church is called The Second Church of Orsola Aquinas, but…"

"But?"

"That's just a façade; its true name is The Holy Church of Suzumiya Haruhi."

Hey Haruhi, you got your own Church now… I think I'm going to get a headache. Anyway after that revelation we said our goodbyes and Agnese san ordered Angelene san to escort us outside.

…

"Thanks a lot for coming to visit us, please stop by our church again once it's finished!"

The little nun bowed and then Asahina san kneeled in front of her and patted her head.

"Of course we will, thanks a lot for welcoming us."

"It's nothing Oneechan, it's our duty to welcome everyone that comes to our church."

Asahina san stood up and joined the rest of the group as we were leaving.

"Hey… em… Excuse me!"

But we couldn't even begin to walk away as we heard Angelene san calling for us.

"What's wrong?"

She took a long breath and then almost yelled what she wanted to say.

"You people are friends with Suzumiya sama aren't you?"

We all nodded.

"Well I was wondering…? I mean we have talked a lot about her in our group, about whether or not she is… you know, and… and everyone has a different belief but… but what I want to know is… Is she a kind person? I mean… would she make a good God?"

So it was that.

"Haruhi… Well she can be weird, rude, annoying and self-centered; I mean she has no trouble using people to get what she wants and her powers have gotten us in a lot of trouble: she once nearly destroyed the universe because of a baseball game and she also repeated the same two weeks more than 15.000 times just because she didn't want her summer vacation to end until it was perfect."

Angele san's face grew sadder as I said those things… but I wasn't finished yet.

"But she's not a bad person eiher, she's fun to be around and she's always optimistic and full of energy, she's loyal to her friends and despite being self-centered she's not really that selfish, not to mention I do believe she's becoming a better person... So I guess you could say that if she really is God then we could do a lot worse."

Then she looked at the ground. "I see…" before raising her head with a soft smile. "Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

What can I say; I do believe that of all the people on the face of the earth Haruhi isn't that bad of a choice to be God, being completely honest I doubt I could do a better job myself.

"Ehm… What's wrong with you people?"

After I turned around back to the group I noticed everyone was staring at me with weird smiles on their faces, even Asahina san and Kanzaki san were blushing a little, yet once I called them out they just looked away.

"Nothing, let's go Kyon kun."

And so I was left wondering what that was all about.

…

"Hey Kyon kun!"

Huh? As we were walking home I noticed Asahina san was calling me for the second time today.

"What is it Asahina san?"

Then once again she blushed slightly, slowly stuttering the words she wanted to say.

"Well… is that… when we were talking before and when we were with those nuns earlier… well I… I couldn't help but notice you… the way you… so I was wondering if…"

Finally she gave up and just closed her eyes, blurting out her question while trying her best not to shout.

"Do you like nuns that wear miniskirts and stockings?"

But after making her question, Asahina san blushed a lot as if she suddenly realized what she just asked.

"No wait!" and then she bowed "Sorry I asked something so weird all of the sudden! Please forget about it!"

Ok, where did that came from? I mean yeah, I do think that combination it's… erm… certainly eye-catching and… quite pleasant to look at… but I tried my best not to show it… was it really that obvious?

"Yo, Kyon!"

"Woah~!"

Suddenly a voice ran through my ears, scaring the living days out of me and making me leap in surprise, after taking a second to regain my balance, I instinctively turned around as fast as I could to find who carried this surprise attack against me, only to immediately recognize her and shout in response.

"It's you Sasaki!"

"Hey! Is that how you greet a friend you haven't seen in so long?"

Standing right behind me was none other than an old friend of mine; I used to hang out with her a lot back when I was in middle school since we also went to the same cram school, although after graduation I ended up in North High while she got into some suburban private high school so I kind of lost contact with her.

"Listen, I was talking to Sudou the other day and he told me he wanted to have a reunion with…"

She stopped talking as soon as she noticed I was not alone, a chance I took advantage of to introduce her.

"Everyone, this person is…"

"…a really close friend!"

But Sasaki wouldn't let me finish that sentence.

"But I guess you can say we were only close friends on the third year of middle school, after that Kyon completely failed on his duty to keep contact with me, of course that means I failed as well, but I believe the fact that after nearly a year or so of not seeing him I can still say hi and speak to him without problems means that I can still call him a close friend, what do you think Kyon?"

I guess so, I wouldn't deny her being close friend of mine.

"I'm Sasaki; it's a pleasure to meet you guys."

She bowed a little as my companions promptly introduce themselves.

"Ah! I… I am Asahina Mikuru."

Asahina san bowed as well with several degrees of gracefulness.

"I'm Koizumi."

Koizumi introduced himself with a set of manners that seemed to be taken straight from a stereotypical butler.

…

And Kanzaki san… well she stood up staring at Sasaki with her eyes wide open as if she were on a daze.

"Kaori?"

Only snapping out of it after Asahina san called out to her with the sweetest of voices.

"Oh sorry… I'm Kanzaki Kaori."

But Sasaki paid no mind to her strange behavior and just kept talking.

"Hi everyone! I'd like to think Kyon's friends are my friends so I hope we can get along."

She bowed again before turning back to me.

"Anyway Kyon I just wanted to tell you real quick I was talking with Sudou the other day and he said he wanted to have a reunion with our classmates from third year of middle school, I think it's because of that girl he used to like; he didn't told me who she was but I think it's Okamoto, remember her? The cute girl with curly hair, you know the one who was a member of the sports society."

Well I sure wouldn't mind participating in such a reunion, it'd be nice to meet with a few of my old classmates again that I haven't seen since middle school; as for Okamoto and Sudou, I'm unable to remember who she was so if Sudou wants to sit next to her then I wouldn't mind in the slightest.

"It'd be fun, that way you can meet with a few old friends, like me for an example, I don't think I've seen you since we picked the middle school graduation certificate together nearly a year ago."

Sasaki made a rather unique smile that I just can't describe properly, before looking at her watch.

"Well I got to go now, it's kind of late already; usually I would already gotten home by now but I had to take a detour to show an exchange student around, she was pretty nice to me and even gave me this necklace as a thank you present."

Then she searched for a chain on her neck to pull out a crucifix from her shirt.

"What do you think? I think it's beautiful, but I'm not really sure about wearing such a religious symbol as if it was a simple accessory; although she did told me that wasn't a problem and that I should wear it every day… Now that I think about it, I wonder if people in Italy wear stuff like this as a fashion statement or something like that."

Finally she placed the crucifix back on her shirt and turned around.

"Well Kyon, time for me to go back home so I'll get going, keep in contact ok? Bye everyone~!"

She waved at us before and then proceeded to walk away quickly.

"What a strange person."

For reason I don't want to hear that from you Koizumi, anyway I quickly noticed that while Asahina san seemed fine despite being somehow blinking faster than usual, the other female in our group seemed worried and lost in thought.

"What's wrong Kanzaki san?"

Then after hearing my voice, she snapped out of her daze.

"Kyon san, just who…? Never mind, listen could you please call Nagato san and Ichigo san and see if we can set up a meeting later tonight, maybe around midnight… I need to check something…"

Then Kanzaki san excused herself and quickly ran back towards the direction of the Church we just left, so fast that trying to catch her would be nothing but a waste of time.

"We'll meet in that place Koizumi san took us the other day, don't be late!"

And with that she was gone.

"What was that all about?"

"Kaori seemed really worried about something."

"Yes, but what could it be?"

Ok, I don't know what's happening but I have a bad feeling about this.

**A stranger in town.**

A rather exquisite woman was carefully examining her face on the mirror; moving her fingers through her soft, almost perfect skin; searching for the marks she should have, yet just weren't there.

"I really look different without them… You could almost say I'm cu…"

But her uncharacteristic display of vanity was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing; not really used to her new house, she struggled to find the device and hastily picked it up so that annoying noise would end.

"Yes?"

"It's me."

She let out an annoyed sight, if she knew it was him calling her she wouldn't have bothered to answer in the first place.

"What do you want?"

"Did you manage to establish yourself on that town?"

"Yes, I'm already done with the paperwork, unpacked all of my stuff, finished the magic treatment to remove the piercings successfully and I even had time to go to school today… All that after moving to this place yesterday; not bad if I do say so myself."

"What about her? Did you manage to contact her?"

"Yes that too, she seemed a little reluctant at first, but I managed to convince her to let me stay close and even accepted the present I prepared."

"That's the most important thing… I assume our gift is working as intended."

"Who do you think you're talking to? Of course it does! It wasn't particularly easy but now Divine Punishment will be dealt to those who threaten her. "

"I see… anything else to report?"

"Yes, it seems the Anglicans established a church nearby, I haven't paid them a visit yet, but…"

"Don't! Remember you need to keep a low profile for the time being, we can't afford anyone knowing of your presence there, it would draw a lot of unnecessary attention towards her."

"I know that! The only thing I've done so far was blocking a tracer spell they were trying to cast."

"Well done, if they managed to cast something like that, it'd be troublesome to say the least… I assume you took precautions for them not to trace you back. "

"Of course! I'm not an amateur you know?"

"I see… Anyway continue with your mission."

And then he hung up without even waiting for her answer.

"What was that all about…? Oh well it doesn't matter."

She dismissed that strange call and quickly went back to what she was doing before being distracted by her new reflection on the mirror.

"Better get back to clean up this mess."

The apartment she had been given was still just as his old residents (According to the landowner, a young man with weird hair and a little nun with a huge appetite, both who were really noisy ) left it, so she needed to tidy up the place if she wanted to live here comfortably for a while.

"Seriously! What kind of people used to live here before…?"

She spend the rest of the afternoon on her labor, carefully placing everything just the way it pleased her, helping herself with magic whenever she could.

"Finally."

Once finished, she went to get something to eat and then to check her new uniform… which was a stereotypical Japanese High School Girl uniform to be precise.

"It's no wonder Acqua couldn't take this mission… He'd look horrible on this thing."

Then she giggled for a second before sighing.

"Seriously though, why does a member of God's Right Seat, the ultimate weapon among the two billion have to go back to school on this heathen country?"

She sighed to herself again before carefully placing the uniform back into it's hanger, taking all precautions so that it wouldn't have even the slightest imperfection; it seemed that despite her whining a little part of her did want to participate on this.

"But I guess we must do whatever it takes to protect the true messiah of this world."


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: **Hello dear readers, first I wanted to apologize for how long this chapter took to be published, I had a few problems irl, and some writer block to make things worse, but that doesn't matter anymore, also I wanted to say to say thanks to everyone that wrote me to ask about the state of this fic and if I was still writing it, it was really encouraging.

Special thanks to LarryF who helped me proof read the first part of this chapter when I first wrote it back on October 2011.

* * *

**Chapter 20:**

It was almost midnight when I arrived at the karaoke bar Koizumi likes so much, as soon as I went in the waitress quickly recognized me and gently guided me towards our usual booth; there I found that everyone else was already inside.

"Welcome, Kyon-san."

I said hello to everyone and quickly took a seat besides Nagato and Ichigo-san; unlike usual though, it was Kanzaki-san instead of Koizumi who sat on the middle of the group and lead the meeting.

"Sorry to call you guys here so suddenly."

No problem as far as I'm concerned, though I must admit I'm curious about why is Kanzaki-san acting like this. She's usually very composed and level headed but right now… No, ever since we left that church this afternoon she's been kind of… nervous.

"The thing is…"

"What's wrong, Kaori?"

She took a deep breath before turning to me.

"Kyon-san, that person we met earlier today… who was she?"

Huh? Sasaki? What does she has to do with this?

"You see… Well… Remember the day when we first met and I told you that Haruhi-san had this certain aura around her… something that made me want to protect her."

Yes, I vaguely remember something like that; it was only a few weeks ago after all.

"Well, you see, at first I thought it was kind of a placebo effect. I mean, the manifestation of God's Holy Will here on earth was an eccentric high school girl, and you can guess that wasn't what I was expecting. So I thought maybe my mind was playing tricks on me so that I could accept her easier."

Suddenly she blushed a little and tried to hide her face on her hands. If I had to guess, I'd say she's remembering about a certain incident with a uniform that was _way _too small for her.

"But you know, even after she made me do so many embarrassing things, I realized I couldn't really get mad at her for it. After the kendo duel when she called me her sister for the first time, I felt like… like I already had a deep bond with her, as if we were real siblings, not someone I met only a few days ago…."

She stared at the floor with eyes that gave hints of melancholy.

"So I think what I mean to say is that Haruhi san seems to have some sort of aura around her that _attracts_ me to her, that makes me…"

Suddenly she opened her eyes as wide as they could be; looking at us with what I could see was obviously embarrassment.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say the bond I have with her is a lie… it's the complete opposite. I… I…"

Suddenly she shook her head repeatedly and quickly freed her face of any kind of emotion, trying to return to the seriousness that was more like her.

"Sorry, I've been feeling a little nervous since this afternoon and I kind of let myself get carried away and wasn't thinking what I was saying."

Then she cleared her throat and completely recovered her composure, going back to the serious Kanzaki-san we all know.

"The problem is this aura I mentioned; for starters it seems I'm the only one who can feel it. I tried asking around my colleagues who met her and none of them felt anything, and I'm guessing neither do any of you."

Nope, can't say I felt any strange supernatural 'aura' or anything from her, and seeing how everyone else just shook their heads I believe it's the same for the entire brigade.

"I thought so. See? I believe I can feel this aura because I'm a Saint; it's not unknown for us to be able to sense things regular people cannot. I haven't been able to confirm this theory, but it's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense."

Well I don't know anything about Sainthood or anything like that, so I can't speculate, but… what does this has to do with Sasaki?

"But the thing is Kyon-san, when I met your friend, well I… I could feel a similar aura coming from her."

"What? But that makes no sense!"

"Kyon-kun…"

Asahina-san quickly whispered to me and brought me back to my senses, it seems that after that revelation I stood up and yelled. All I could do was to regain my composure as fast as I could and apologize to Kanzaki-san.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about that. I was just as surprised as you, that's why I could barely speak back then, it's weird , the auras are similar enough for me to say they're the same, but for some reason hers made me feel… uncomfortable."

"But what does that even mean? Is Sasaki just like Haruhi then?"

"I'm not so sure about that."

Suddenly the one who had remained uncharacteristically quiet this whole meeting spoke, still sporting his usual smile.

"What do you mean, Koizumi?"

"Well, Kyon-kun, as you know, it's important for The Organization to keep an eye on the people close to Suzumiya-san. Obviously, that includes you as well. Needless to say, we performed a little background check on you before coming to the conclusion that you were completely normal."

Well, thank you Koizumi, it's nice to know my 'normalness' it's genuine.

"And of course during our investigation we found out about Sasaki-san being a close friend of yours back in middle school, so we investigated her as well."

"…And? What did you find?"

"Well, I must admit that if observed in a certain way she's an extraordinary person; one that causes disturbances to every object around her with her every action, kind of like light. Despite this, we didn't find anything on her that would arouse suspicion. Granted, we didn't investigate her too deeply, but that was because it didn't seem like it was needed."

So Sasaki is…

"Unfortunately there's another thing about her that worries me besides that aura of hers."

"What was it, Kanzaki-san?"

She sighed and looked down for a second before continuing.

"I might get in trouble with my church for saying this, but as comrades on the mission to protect Haruhi-san. I believe you guys deserve to know."

Ok, it's official, I don't like this. At all!

"When I went back to the Church after the incident this afternoon, I called the Archbishop of my church to try to get some answers out her, and… Well, she told me that during our trip to Academy City, a member of the protection team frustrated an attack from the Roman Catholic Church against Haruhi-san."

Suddenly the atmosphere got incredibly tense.

"I don't know the details but this definitely means they've finally taken a decision about her, and knowing those guys I rather not think about they want to do."

"Are they really that dangerous? I mean…"

"Yes, despite their influence not being as strong as it used to be, they're still considered the most powerful organization on the magic side. Only the Anglican and the Russian Orthodox Churches are comparable to them."

This is just great! It hasn't even been one day since we came back from Academy City and now another threat appears; I mean what is this some kind of shounen manga?

"Please don't worry about that. The Anglican Church already supports Haruhi-san as one of our own, and thanks to our new church they can't attack this town so openly without creating a major incident. Once the tracer spell the battle nuns are working on is completed, they'll be unable to move in without us knowing about it. However…."

"'However'? Why is there always a 'however'?"

"Kyon-san, if you remember, Sasaki-san was wearing a crucifix this afternoon. But that wasn't a normal necklace; that was an official cross of the Roman Catholics, the kind that's only given to the highest ranking members."

"So what! Are you trying to tell me that Sasaki is working with…?"

"Kyon-san! I understand your position, but please let me finish with what I'm saying."

I tried to calm myself and then muttered, "Sorry."

"It's okay. Listen, if Sasaki-san were working with the Roman Catholics, then she wouldn't have shown us that cross as recklessly as she did. Not to mention that someone Koizumi-san qualifies as 'normal' wouldn't be able to be a high-ranking member of the Church."

I covered my mouth with my hand and then slowly looked down at the floor.

"She said an exchange student gave it to her."

"That's correct, Kyon-san, and I don't think she was lying about that. The only explanation I can think of is that there's already someone from the Roman Catholics on this town, but her intentions have nothing to do with Haruhi-san. Rather, she's here to be with Sasaki-san."

"And that would be that person she mentioned."

"Correct. I suspect she's trying to approach Sasaki-san the same way we all did with Haruhi-san. I'm not sure why, but I don't like it one bit."

So that means Sasaki doesn't know. Somehow I feel relieved after hearing that.

"So what is your church going to do, Kaori?"

Kanzaki-san looked at Asahina-san directly on her eyes and sighed.

"For the time being? Nothing."

Okay, I definitely wasn't expecting that.

"What… what do you mean?"

"Well, the thing is, there's nothing we can do. Sasaki-san has the cross of the Roman Catholic Church with her, so we cannot do anything to her without the risk of an open conflict arising."

For some reason, I can't help but think that's kind of a good thing.

"And since our influence on this town is so small, even if we found someone from the Roman Catholics here, we wouldn't be able to do much other than tell him to behave. So no matter how you look at it, we don't have any options."

So if I got this correctly, technically both Churches are in some sort of stalemate right now.

"And that's why we would like to ask your cooperation, Kyon-san."

Kanzaki-san suddenly stood up and bowed towards me.

"I know it might be asking too much, but since you're Sasaki-san close friend, I'd like to ask if you could…"

"…Call her and try to get some information about the exchange student and herself, right?"

"Exactly."

"_Sigh! _I don't really like this one bit, but… I'll do it."

As I said that, I noticed everyone (Ichigo-san and Nagato not included) looked at me surprised.

"Listen, I don't know much about church politics or anything like that, and I must admit I'm not particularly thrilled to do this… but in this kind of situation, I'd rather take care of it myself."

And for some reason I doubt her Church will just leave Sasaki alone if I refuse. At the end of the day, nobody likes a stalemate.

"But I got one condition."

Kanzaki san looked at me with seriously.

"What is it?"

"If for some reason I don't find anything and this whole thing is just a huge misunderstanding, then I want a promise from your Church to leave Sasaki alone."

She just nodded. "Of course!"

"Okay, I'll try to call her tomorrow and set up a meeting or something. I'll fill you in with anything I find."

I don't like doing this to her, but I'd rather take this matter into my own hands than let anyone else handle it. Don't get me wrong, I honestly trust Kanzaki-san and I'm really grateful for the help her Church gave us during the Academy City ordeal. But just like with Koizumi's organization, I think it's better if I don't trust them too much.

**A few days later, afterschool.**

_Knock knock_

"Come in!"

As the door opened, a second year girl that I'm pretty sure I've seen somewhere before, entered our club room, and almost immediately she was being followed by a couple of uncomfortable stares, courtesy of my dear leader and surprisingly enough Kanzaki-san.

"Excuse me Suzumiya-san…"

"What is it?"

The poor girl got really nervous. A perfectly natural reaction, I mean Haruhi's stare was already bad enough as it is, adding Kanzaki-san's on top of it is just overkill.

"Well, I don't know if you remember but I gave you a package for Touma-kun and I was wondering if…"

"Yeah, he got it; we delivered every single package, no problems."

"I see, thanks a lot Suzumiya-san, I…"

"Listen, erm…?"

"I'm Yoshida Kaz…."

"Yoshida-san…" For an instant Haruhi seemed to hesitate, but went through with her question none the less. "…You see, it was brought to my attention than one of the packages we delivered to Touma-kun, was… I don't know how to say this… Female underwear, as in 'used'female underwear."

"WHAT?" The girl immediately took a step back with her face showing surprise, repulsion… and maybe a little bit of _'Why didn't I think of that?'_

"Yeah, disgusting I know. So you see, Yoshida-san, I just wanted to know if you had an idea of who could've done such a thing."

"No of course not! I just sent him a love letter and some pictures of me in linge… Wait! I mean just a love letter!"

"I see. No problems then, sorry I bothered you."

"Yeah, I better go now, I need to get back to my club. Once again thanks a lot for the delivery!"

The girl bowed and then got out of the room as fast as she could.

"Do you think it was her?"

Kanzaki-san shook her head.

"Doubt it, her story about sending letters and…" A couple of angry veins appeared on her forehead. "…Pictures of herself wearing lingerie is barely any better so there's no point in using it as a cover."

Haruhi sighed "Yeah, you'd already have to be really sad and desperate to do something like that."

Either that or borderline psychotic and/or bipolar… Not that I'm complaining, those pictures are pretty nice to look at.

"Kyon, what's with that face?"

"Huh? What face?"

"The one you had just now, it was disgusting."

Am I really that obvious?

"Never mind that; anyway, do we really need a witch hunt to find out who sent the underwear? I mean it's not really a big deal and…."

"Kyon… Some creep took advantage of our kindness and made us participate in some sick, twisted exchange of the most perverted nature. It **IS** a big deal."

"Kindness? But the only reason you didn't charge anyone was because of your newly found business ethics."

"That's beyond the point, the fact is that some pervert made us carry her dirty underwear around Academy City and she must pay. Right, Kaori-neesan?"

Suddenly a huge dark aura of death and destruction spread across the room.

…

"Unforgivable!"

…

Then just as sudden as it appeared, the dark aura vanished and Kanzaki-san went back to her meditation.

"See? She agrees with me."

Yeah, for some reason I think her opinion is a little biased on this matter; not that I'd ever bring that up out loud.

"Whatever, just try not to hurt anyone…" I knew it wasn't a good idea to tell her.

"Anyway, like I was saying before we were interrupted, I was thinking this Sunday we should get together and…."

Great, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this.

"Actually Haruhi, I kind of have something to do this Sunday."

…

Suddenly I could feel the entire room getting silent and the cold, uncomfortable stare of my dear leader gazing upon me.

"And what could that be, Kyon? What could possibly be more important than your duties to the brigade?"

"Well, I… I… I was planning to have a reunion with a friend from middle school."

I hate that I can't lie to her when she stares at me like that.

"A friend? What kind of…."

"Does it matter Haruhi-san? If Kyon-san can't come then we'll just go by ourselves."

Thank you Kanzaki-san, anyway Haruhi stared me for a while before sighing.

"Nah forget it! We'll do something next Sunday instead."

"Are you sure? I mean I don't mind if…."

"I said forget it, Kyon! We'll do something next Sunday; I just remembered I have something to do as well so it´s ok!"

Okay, whatever you say dear leader, no need to get angry like that.

"Seriously…" Haruhi sighed "…Anyway I'm ending this meeting early, we have a rehearsal today."

She quickly packed up her stuff and dragged Nagato and Ichigo-san out of the room, closing the door behind her with a loud '_Thud!_' leaving behind the rest of the brigade before we could even stop what we were doing.

"Kyon-san, that meeting you were talking about is about what we discussed the other night, right?"

I just nodded at Kanzaki-san's question.

"Yes, I talked to her and she told me we could meet on Sunday."

"I see… Thank you very much Kyon-san."

Kanzaki-san stood up and bowed.

"Don't mention it."

To be honest there was one thing I didn't tell her, but when I called Sasaki for some reason I got the feeling that… Wait; never mind that, I'll confirm those things by myself.

"Speaking about that, Kanzaki-san, did you hear anything from Agnese-san about my proposal?"

She looked at Koizumi and then shook her head.

"No, I haven't heard anything from her, then again since she has to contact the highest authorities of the Anglican Church I doubt you'll get an answer until next week at least."

Koizumi placed his hand on his chin.

"I see, please tell me if you hear something."

"Of course!"

She nodded and then we left the clubroom for the day.

**Sunday morning, near the train station.**

"Yo Kyon!"

I spotted Sasaki as I was arriving.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Fine and you?"

"Great, thanks for coming."

"Don't worry; I wanted to talk with you anyway so it's no problem."

Huh! Why?

"Well I was going to ask you if Sudou called you about the reunion with our middle school class, he told me he was already inviting people so I was curious…"

_*Sigh* _so it was that, nope I haven't received any calls from him lately.

"I see…"

She seemed to doubt for a second before continuing.

"Also I wanted to ask you if you could accompany me somewhere."

"Sure, where are we going?"

"It's a family restaurant that's pretty close by."

Well, now that I think about it we never discussed where to go so no objections.

"I want you to meet some … 'acquaintances' of mine, I think that´s the right term because we only got to know each other recently, so I don't think we can call each other friends, but I'm very interested in some things they told me, and..."

"And… What?"

"Nothing, I'll explain everything when we arrive."

I have a bad feeling about this for some reason; anyway, we started walking and talking as Sasaki guided me towards our destination, and as we did I could easily notice how she was right when she said we were still somewhat close; I never felt there was any distance between us during our conversation, it was like we've never stopped seeing each other every day… A few minutes later we arrived at the restaurant she wanted to go, which by the way was the same one the SOS Brigade uses as a meeting place.

"Now where are… oh, there they are!"

She quickly moved towards table 2, where three persons were casually sitting drinking coffee, one of them was a girl around my age with hair that was between orange and brown tied in what appeared to be twin ponytails, another one was an European looking girl with blue eyes, and the last one was a guy with somewhat blond hair.

"Everyone, this is Kyon, the friend I was talking about the other day."

Sasaki chuckled and then the girl with the ponytails introduced herself.

"I'm Tachibana Kyoko; Sasaki has told us a lot of stories about you, so it's nice to finally meet you."

She chuckled as well and then the blue eyed girl introduced herself.

"I'm Vento, nice to meet you."

Funny while for her part Tachibana-san actually seemed somewhat nice; this 'Vento' girl on the other hand seemed to be going out of the way to make herself sound unpleasant, even if she didn't said anything particularly rude.

"You know Kyon, Vento-san is like your exact opposite when it comes to nicknames, her name is really cute, but for some reason she goes the extra mile to make everyone in school, even teachers, call her 'Vento', totally unlike you who couldn't shake off his nickname even if he begged."

Harsh but sadly true.

"I just like it, it means 'Wind' in Italian and I think it suits me well."

Once again while her words were polite I could feel she tried to make her speech sound unnecessarily rude… Wait a minute, Italian?

"I see… is she the exchange student you mentioned the other day?"

Sasaki just nodded… so this rude girl must be the agent of the Roman Catholic Church Kanzaki-san mentioned the other day, I tried my best to remain calm; I wouldn't want her to raise her suspicions… Yet I must admit she's not like I expected her to be.

"Fujiwara."

Huh? The guy introduced himself but just barely, it seemed he wasn't even paying attention to me and just kept looking at his watch as if he just didn't care about any of the stuff that was happening around him.

"Well, shall we take a seat?"

I nodded, helped Sasaki into a seat and then I took one myself.

"So, what did you wanted to tell me Sasaki?"

She smiled to me.

"Not yet, we're still expecting someone else… oh here they are!"

I turned around to find… well… it was like looking at a drop of ink in a glass of water, like fog in the middle of a rainy day, it took me a few seconds to notice there was a Kouyouen girls school's uniform somewhere in there and inside of it a girl that could only be accurately described with the ancient phrase 'Out of this world.'

"_"

She looked at me and I got goose bumps all over my body, she had eyes like a perfectly polished black Onyx stone and black hair that extended around her entire body almost covering completely. It was bizarre, this is the kind of person that's impossible to overlook no matter how much you tried, yet I didn't notice when she got there… was she invisible before? Somehow I don't think I'd had trouble believing that.

"Who are you?"

"_"

She just stood there not moving, I don't think she's even blinking; she looked at me in a way that was far more mechanical that anything I've ever seen, even that janitor robot back in Academy City had more life on it. After a while her lips seemed to start moving out of the obligation to say something when one is being spoken.

"_Ah…"

To my surprise it seemed like she could speak, yet even the simplest of sounds seemed confusing and nearly incomprehensible if she made them.

"_I'm_"

She talked slowly.

"Kuyou_"

So it's that her name or her last name? How do you even spell that?

"Suou_"

"So your name is Kuyou Suou?"

"…_Suou_Kuyou_"

Ok, so which one is it? Somehow it seemed this girl lacked a few gears on her head.

_*chuckle* "_Kyon, that is Kuyuo-san, and no, despite what you might think she isn't sick or anything, that's just how she is, isn't she interesting."

"I see…" I don't like this at all; somehow this girl reminds me of Nagato when I first met her, but with even worse social skills… a lot worse.

"But the most unbelievable thing is, that despite being how she is, or maybe because she is the way she is, she found herself a nice boyfriend recently… Isn't that right Kakine-san?"

Huh? For the first time ever since she arrived I managed to get my attention away from the girl and notice there was a guy with her, he had dirty blond hair and a dark maroon suit; it seemed while I was busy trying to figure what his 'girlfriend' was he had gotten seats for both of them from nearby tables.

_*nod*_

He nodded while a somehow cocky smile formed on his face.

"You know Kyon, Kakine-san can't speak. I mean he can hear us just fine but he had an accident when he took a horrible blow to his chest and nearly drowns in a cold river and now he just can't make any sound come out of his vocal chords, terrible isn't it?"

That's pretty bad.

"Although that's when he and Kuyou-san first met, it seems she was the one who saved him and apparently that was the moment when he fell for her; so I suppose at least he got something nice out of that horrible experience."

That's good I guess.

"He can write and he learned to speak sign language perfectly so we can actually understand him better than we do Kuyou-san."

He hand spoke something to Tachibana-san, I'm no expert but I think he's using standard Japanese Sign Language or JSL for short.

"He says it's nice to meet you."

"Oh… Same here, nice to meet you Kakine-san."

Yet thanks to that cocky smile on his face, I can't shake the feeling he's actually mocking me.

"Well, it seems we're all here, I wonder if we should order something? Kyon, earlier while we were walking, you told me you worked part-time on this restaurant once did you? If so, can you recommend me something from the menu? I've been here a few times before but I wanted to try something new."

"Well, back then the chef was someone completely different so if you expect me to tell you about a secret special dish then I'm afraid you're out of luck."

"I see…"

"But I do remember a couple of costumers went crazy mixing hamburgers with smoked cheese if you want something to eat and we also served some health drink that looked like some kind of exotic cocktail that seemed really tasty."

"Hamburgers with smoked cheese and Health drinks? That doesn't sound too out of the ordinary; I was thinking something along the lines of …"

"Sasaki-san."

Suddenly our conversation was interrupted by Tachibana-san.

"I'm sorry for being rude, but can you leave casual chat for later? I wanted to talk to him about something important, that's why I asked you to call him."

Tachibana-san asked Sasaki to call me…?

"Sorry, I didn't forget about that, I just was playing dumb, you see, I'm no good speaking about that stuff aloud… by the way, I know you told me to call him but actually he was the one who called to invite me first, so you could say you´re the one interrupting our meeting."

"I understand, if it is like that then I'll try to be brief, that way you can continue your chat after I'm done… and about the menu, I was hoping we could all just get something to drink and be done with it."

Sasaki just chuckled.

"Ok, then I´ll order one of those health drinks, what about you Kyon?"

"I´ll just take some hot coffee."

After that Kakine-san hand spoke to Tachibana-san again.

"Ok, then it is one health drink and three coffees."

Tachibana-san then quickly called the waitress and told her our orders. We waited for around 3 minutes before she was back with the beverages.

"Well, now that's out of the way…"

The girl with the ponytails that was seated right in front of me took a deep breath.

"Kyon-san, I'm not really sure about how to say this so I'm just going to be blunt, the truth is that I'm an esper."

Oh great, another one.

"Yeah, I know after what you've been through recently that mustn't be that impressive."

Not really… Wait a minute, how does she know that?

"I'm really sorry but my companions have been investigating you for a while, so I know a few things about you… anyway, that's not important, the thing is…"

Suddenly I noticed the atmosphere got really tense.

"…I'm similar to that other esper that studies with you, the one named Koizumi-kun, but there's one difference, unlike him I don't believe my powers came from Suzumiya-san… Rather I can feel they came from Sasaki-san."

And that means…?

"Kyon-san, what I mean to say is that we believe Sasaki-san is the true God and that Suzumiya-san's powers are originally hers."

What? I struggled to keep myself from drowning on the coffee I was drinking as she said that.

"Finally, you know I've been trying to tell you this for a long while; but since I hadn't meet you I thought you'd think I was crazy if I just bumped into you on the street one day and started talking, I even thought about transferring to North High but it was kind of scary to go there by myself with all the aliens and the time travelers."

Just what is this girl talking about?

"So I thought that maybe it wouldn´t be so scary if I could get an alien and a time traveler to join me, but then when I found and convinced them, it turns out now there were people from Academy City and the Anglican Church as well so I had to get some of those too… It was kind of frustrating."

The girl looked at the other people sitting on the table, and then let out a huge sigh.

"But that doesn't matter anymore; the important thing is that I could finally speak to you."

I tried my best to put the cup with my coffee on the table without spilling it, which was easier than I thought it would, I'm getting better at keeping my cool I guess.

"So, what you're saying is that these people around us…?"

She nodded and smiled.

"Yep, if you say Koizumi-kun has the responsibility of keeping Suzumiya-san safe then mine is to do the same with Sasaki-san, that's why I had to assemble group similar to his."

You're one member short though; still I don't get it, if Haruhi isn't the godly presence that everyone says she is then… What I've been doing with my life the past months? I've been nearly stabbed by Ryoko Asakura, time traveled, got a personal psycho-stalker and even made a tour through the Academy City… I don't think any of those things could've been possible if Haruhi wasn't the mysterious godlike entity everyone says she is.

"Kyon-san, remember that things aren't always what they appear… The truth if often far more complicated that it seems at first glance."

I took a deep breath and then turned to face the person besides me. "Sasaki, do you believe what she's saying." She was checking her phone obviously unconcerned with our talk, but as soon as I spoke to her she raised her head.

"Well… I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't intrigued about this whole thing, however I'm not really sure if what she says is possible nor if I want to be a part of it… You could say I'm cautiously curious about this."

She said that and when back to her phone, leaving me alone with Tachibana-san again.

"Kyon-san, we believe that the powers Suzumiya-san is holding right now were originally Sasaki-san's, however for some reason they were transferred to her and it's our intention to change things back to the way they should be; I believe the world would be better that way."

Then there was a moment of silence before she stared right into my eyes.

"And I was hoping I could count with your help."

I took a deep breath again and then escaped from her line of sight.

Why? What do I have to do with any of this…? Does Sasaki even agree to this whole thing?

"I don't want anything to do with this. You know me I'm kind of an introvert and just your average person, if I got a hold on those godlike powers everyone is talking about then I'll definitely develop a mental illness in the long run."

After listening to her, I turned back to Tachibana Kyoko. "Well if Sasaki doesn't want them then I don't think I can help you."

"Do you think this is fine then? To leave things the way they are?" She showed no signs of backing down. "If things continue this way then not only you will have live through Suzumiya-san's whims, but the entire world will too." Then she turned to the person next to me. "Sasaki-san, I would like you to reconsider this matter, compared to Suzumiya-san you're far more suitable, you won't even have to worry about anything and just go on living like you always do."

Sasaki looked at me with an expression that read "Is that true?"

I honestly don't know what to think of this, on one hand I can see some sense in what she's saying, perhaps that girl is not the best choice to have that responsibility on her shoulders; she is in a sense a time bomb with no timer that could explode at anytime…

_"But she's not a bad person either, she's fun to be around and she's always optimistic and full of energy, she's loyal to her friends and despite being self-centered she's not really that selfish, not to mention I do believe she's becoming a better person... So I guess you could say that if she really is God then we could do a lot worse."_

The words that I said to that little nun the other day came back to me, it's true that Haruhi might be a little eccentric, but I'm pretty sure that she likes the world the way it is… I mean yes she might do things like getting herself a tour into into Academy City or stuff like that, but that doesn't mean she wants the world to be destroyed.

"Look, I understand where you're coming from, but even if I were to agree what could you do about it? Haruhi having the powers she does isn't really a good thing, but she does have them, that is just the way things are. "

"That doesn't matter, I'm just asking you if you believe that Sasaki-san is more suitable; listen I understand you're the person closest to Suzumiya-san, but you should be pretty close to Sasaki-san too, after all you've known her for longer."

Well yes it is true that I've meet Sasaki since middle-school and Haruhi since high-school, but it's just not the same, I didn't form a brigade with Sasaki, I don't spend every afternoon with her or have hellish training with her everyday; so it's simply wrong to say I know them about the same, Haruhi wins by a large margin.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you."

She placed her hands together as if praying.

"But it's for the better good, I mean I know last week you needed an entire operation of more than two dozen people just to keep status quo intact, and I also know that a few weeks before the world was nearly destroyed because one of her whims, if it were Sasaki-san there would be no need to worry about those things… It is really for the best."

There's some sense on her words, but I know better than everyone that Haruhi didn't meant for those things to happen like that.

"Sorry…"

"But…"

"Just let it go…"

Tachibana Kyoko was interrupted by one of her companions, the foreign girl with the blond hair.

"Vento-san?"

She took a sip of her coffee and then spoke.

"Not bad, Italian coffee is still the best but this one is pretty good too… Anyway Tachibana-san, if he doesn't want to cooperate and Sasaki-san doesn't want anything to do with it, then you should just stop; begging them anymore would just make you an annoyance."

After she said that, I noticed none of the other persons on the table seemed to care about the conversation; Vento-san was just drinking her coffee unconcerned, the Fujiwara guy was just looking at his watch annoyed, while Kakine-san was just alternating between his cellphone and his girlfriend, who could just disappear right now and no one would but her boyfriend would notice.

"Hmph! You're all really...!" Then Tachibana-san sighed and looked back at me. "Lend me your hands." Then she stretched her own with a serious expression that was a complete change on how she was until now. "If you're not going to listen then I might as well show you."

I was obviously reluctant but Sasaki touched me with her shoulder and then made a little nod "its ok." I nodded back and then stretched my hand towards her; she quickly held it on hers.

"Close your eyes."

I did as I was told and I felt as if there was a bright light near my eyelids and also little by little I could feel the background noise around me disappearing, being replaced by a piece of classical music, that I'm sure is the Pachelbel's Canon.

"You can open them again…"

Tachibana Kyoko spoke just as the background music disappeared. I did as she told me and immediately saw her still holding unto my hand… But there's no one else but her, not Sasaki, not her friends or any other people around; it was only after I scanned my surroundings that I could see where I was…

"A Closed Space…?"

"So that's how you guys call it…? Anyway that doesn't matter, why don't you take a look around?"

She let go of my hand and then got out of the restaurant, I followed her outside and took a good walk examining the place… It was really similar to the closed spaces I've been before… I mean, not the one that Touma made a few weeks ago when he touched Haruhi, but the ones I came with Koizumi and Haruhi respectively before that.

"So what do you think?"

Well there is a difference though, this is place… How can I say this…? Bright, those closed spaces were kind of dark and gray, this however was really radiant, it made it look like a very cheerful place; not to mention that there doesn't seem to be any kind of life forms around.

"That's right, those creatures you're refereeing to the celestials, just don't exist in this world."

They don't…? But how is that…?

"It's possible because this world is not one made by Suzumiya-san… This one exists because of Sasaki-san."

Suddenly her entire attitude changed, it was kind of like when you're in vacation and someone tries to sell you a timeshare property.

"Can't you feel it? This peacefulness… It's just so comfortable in here, there's absolutely nothing out of place, nothing that threatens the stability of this world."

It's also devoid of life, there isn't even a single sound besides our voices; this place is completely dead.

"Perhaps, but still I like it in here… What about you? If you had to choose between this world that doesn't change and one whose existence relies on the whims of a god… which one would you prefer?"

Funny, even if she says that I cannot help but feeling that there's no danger of the world being destroyed anymore, at the very least not thanks to Haruhi that is… Yet still I have to ask.

"So tell me, can you really do it? Can you take Haruhi's powers and give them to Sasaki."

She just nodded.

"Of course, if you agree and Sasaki accepts then everything is possible."

I must admit that while her answer doesn't really inspire much confidence, her attitude sure does.

"Let's end this union shall we? I believe you need more time to consider this matter."

She went back to the café and quickly sat down on her place, I did the same, to be honest I'm not really comfortable in this place, it's so… dull, at least Haruhi's got some life on it.

"Sit down and close your eyes give me your hand."

I did as I was told and no sooner than later I began to hear the canon again, followed closely by the sounds of the rest of the world, I opened my eyes and found everything pretty much the same way it was before we left.

"Hey, you're back…? At least I think its right to say that."

Sasaki looked at me and smiled.

"Yes… I guess so."

I stuttered an answer the best that I could.

"You sure? I mean, to us it just seemed like you were holding hands for about ten seconds at most…"

I see… I thought we would disappear or something but it seems that's not the case.

"So you saw it… that world inside my subconscious that Tachibana-san can see?"

"You could say that…?

"Any comments?"

"Not really…"

"I thought you'd say that…"

She laughed just as Tachibana Kyoko tried once again to convince her.

"Please Sasaki-san, reconsider my offer, I still believe there's no one better for this task than you, could you please think about it one more time?"

Sasaki placed her index finger on her mouth and then moved her sight from Tachibana Kyoko's puppy eyes to me.

"What do you think Kyon? Could I really handle that mysterious superpower of yours?"

Well if I think about it objectively, then I don't really see Sasaki abusing her powers or even using them at all, of course I don't really see Haruhi using her powers to destroy the world either anymore, nowadays she just uses them to have fun, the problems we had recently were just because…

Suddenly it hit me; if Sasaki had those mysterious powers then it's only a matter of time before the guy that sits atop Academy City notices her, and not just him; I mean a few days ago I met a battalion of nuns that believed Haruhi was their god, would they accept someone taking the powers of their messiah peacefully? Somehow I don't think so… And when things get ugly then, what would happen to Sasaki?

I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I believe Haruhi is better off… But at least with her I'm sure I can count on my fellow brigade members to protect her; I know Tachibaba Kyoko says she found a similar group, but the truth is that outside of her being an esper and Vento-san most likely belonging to the Roman Catholic Church; I really don't know anything about these people, so why should I trust them…? Granted if someone told me that Kuyou Suou girl was an alien similar to Nagato I would have no trouble believing it, but regardless of that my point still stands.

The more I thought about it the more I realized just what such a change in the status quo would really mean… And in the end, regardless of how much I think about it, there's only one answer I can give to this predicament "I don't really think it's a good idea."

"I see…" She let out a sigh of relief. "So you think exactly the same as me, I thought you would." And then she smiled before looking at Tachibana Kyoko. "Sorry Tachibana-san, I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse."

She seemed ready to reply but suddenly someone got a hand on her shoulder.

"You should give it up Tachibana-san."

She turned around to see who was speaking to her.

"Even Vento-san…" She gave a long sigh and then lowered her shoulders. "Well… I guess there's no helping it…"

"Of course there's not… Now come on, let's go." She turned towards us and bowed a little. "We have a few matters to attend, sorry to have bothered you."

It's funny because despite her kind words she still sounds like she's trying to be unpleasant. Anyway, just as they were going to leave the Fujiwara guy stood up as well.

"I'll be going too I don't have any more time to waste."

He joined the Tachibana Kyoko and Vento-san on their way out, as that was when I realized the other two were also leaving as they were with them.

"Good bye everyone, see you later." Sasaki waved them goodbye and turned to me. "I'm sorry Kyon, I didn't expect things to turn this way…"

Don't worry about it, although I still got trouble processing just what the heck did just happen, but I guess I'll have to digest the information little by little later on… And speaking about something else, those guys… Didn't pay for their orders did them?

"By the way Kyon, I'm sorry but I seem to have misplaced my wallet and..."

Oh well, a few coffees are nothing compared to what Haruhi usually makes me pay, so I guess there's no problem.

"Thank you! Anyway, now that is out of the way I wanted to talk to you about that reunion Sudou is planning and…"

**The Anti-SOS Brigade.**

Near the family restaurant they just had coffee; a certain group of curious individuals were having an impromptu meeting thanks to the events that just happened.

"That was a complete waste of time."

The blond guy known as Fujiwara spoke, his word didn't felt like whining, but more like a statement of the obvious.

"Well, of course it was! If you guys had helped me convince them like we agreed then…"

Tachibana Kyoko tried to protest, but she was interrupted by the blond foreigner of the Roman Catholic Church.

"It would've been pointless…"

The esper looked at the blond girl with a little animosity over her quick dismissal.

"Why do you say that?"

"Is it not obvious? The guy just met us less than an hour ago, and you expect him to blindly believe in everything we say and betray his friends... People don´t work like that. "

Then she sighed and lowered her shoulders.

"I guess you're right…"

Then both girls were interrupted by a _'tsk!'_ coming from the blond guy known as Fujiwara.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter whether it's Suzumiya or Sasaki who has those powers, the only thing we have to consider are the powers themselves, as long as they exists then who cares who has them? You guys think the same don't you?"

He turned towards the silent couple that trailed behind them; the guy with dirty blond hair raised his shoulders to shrug him off, while the other girl with the long black hair just remained motionless, as if she wasn't even there.

"See? Anyway, I have to go now; my time is pretty valuable to be wasting it like this."

He made a nod as a way to say goodbye and left, meanwhile the other guy on the group took the opportunity to hand-speak something to Tachibana Kyoko.

"You guys have to leave too? Ok, see you later."

He hand-spoke his goodbye, turned around and left, his girlfriend trailing slightly behind him as if she was a ghost trying to spook him.

"Seriously, those guys just don't listen…"

Tachibana Kyoko lamented to herself.

"Don't feel bad Tachibana-san."

The blond girl tried to console her, yet despite her words being somewhat kind, there was a certain tone on her voice that made her feel like she was mocking her.

"And what about you Vento-san? According to what we talked to Fiamma-san, the Roman Catholic Church was supposed to help us transferring the powers, but you weren't any help at all back there."

The foreigner took a deep breath before responding her, ever since she gave the Cross of Divine Punishment to Sasaki she had tried to be a little nicer to her allies as there was no reason to make people hate her anymore, but old habits don't die in a few days and she still was just as _unpleasant _to talk to as before.

"Tachibana-san, it is true that my church promised to cooperate with your organization… But my duty is just to protect Sasaki-san, so it's not my responsibility to help you with the transference, you should know there's someone else taking care of that."

"But…"

"Not to mention, I don't really agree with your methods."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think convincing Sasaki-san to accept the divine powers is the right thing to do, heck if you ask me I don't really believe she should know they exists; the pressure those powers place on their wearer must be huge, anyone would go mad in a matter of days."

"But if she doesn't know then how are we going to transfer them?"

The blond let out a little smirk.

"Just leave that to us."

**About an hour later.**

"Thank you for everything Kyon!"

We got out of the restaurant and calmly walked towards the train station, I must admit it's kind of weird how after that conversation with Tachibana Kyoko I just stayed there talking with Sasaki about out middle-school reunion so peacefully, honestly I don't think I've fully digested all the information I got today, and I really need to think this through before I do anything with it.

"Well, this is it, here's when we part ways Kyon."

"Sure, good bye Sasaki, nice to see you again."

She made a little bow and then smiled.

"Same here…"

"Hey Kyon!"

Huh? I noticed somebody was calling me and turned around to find none other than my dear leader looking at me.

"Haruhi… Why are you doing here?"

"I had to run a few errands… What about you? I thought you said you were going to meet a friend from middle school."

Sasaki chuckled a little.

"That would be me; the name's Sasaki and you must be Suzumiya-san right? I've heard a lot of things about you…"

Then she smiled and extended her hand, with the intention of shaking hands with her, Haruhi for her part took a glance at me, wrongly accusing me of a crime I didn't commit.

"Hey don't look at me like that… Sasaki how do you know about Haruhi?"

"Well, you know we live in the same area and I tend to hear rumors… You're not the only one that went to North High from our school you know."

I'm guessing that might be Kunikida.

"So he is in North High too? That's strange that person could have gone to a better school… By the way, if you see him tell him about the reunion."

Then she finished her talk about ex-classmates and faced Haruhi once again, never withdrawing her hand, the one which a few seconds later Haruhi shook with a little reluctance.

"So I suppose I don't need to introduce myself."

Sasaki just nodded.

"I heard that Kyon has been under you care in North High, please continue to take care of him."

And Haruhi just nodded back.

"Sure."

Then their hand split apart, and it was only a few seconds later when Sasaki looked at her watch.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Suzumiya-san, but I'm afraid I have to leave now."

She bowed once again and then smiled at me one more time.

"See you later Kyon."

Before turning around and leaving towards the train station.

"What a strange person…"

Funny, Haruhi is the last person I expected to say something like that.

"Is that friend of yours always like that?"

"I think so, yeah,"

She tilted her head as if she wanted to say something but didn't for some reason.

"Whatever… I can't believe you skipped your brigade duties to meet up with her."

Hey, I thought you said you had something to do as well.

"Meh! Never mind Kyon, just forget about it."

As you say dear leader…

"_If things continue this way then not only you will have live through Suzumiya-san's whims, but the entire world will too."_

For some reason Tachibana Kyoko's words came back to me in a flash; you know after all that happened earlier today I was thinking I should go home and think things through, I mean I'm not really sure how I should feel about this and I have to order my thoughts before I talk to Kanzaki-san, one mistake and things could turn really ugly… But still if I had to choose between Haruhi and Sasaki having those godly powers then…

"Hey Haruhi, are you busy right now?"

"No, I'm already done for today, why do you ask?"

"Want to go get something to drink? My treat of course."

"Sure!"

Perhaps this meeting with Haruhi like this is just what I need to know what I should do… Plus, I could go for another cup of coffee.


	21. Chapter 21

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Nagato-san, I´ve been checking out the data you uploaded dated from August 17 to August 31, and there´re literally billions of inconsistencies on it says Misaka as Misaka finds another one.'

[ERROR] [MSK-500] [Client 59219848] Unable to connect with client 59219848: unknown protocol, connection refused.

$\\10032\msg ´It happened again… Misaka says as she noticed the error message.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Yeah, it's been like this for a while, says as Misaka as she tries to remember when Misaka has seen an error like this before.´

$\\14852\msg 'It´s similar to when Nagato-san tried to connect for the first time… Misaka remembers that date.'

[ERROR] [MSK-500] [Client JN2XS33VL5JXK33V] Unable to connect with client JN2XS33VL5JXK33V: unknown protocol, connection refused.

$\\17541\msg 'But it only happened once back then, Nagato-san adapted to our protocols quite easily… Misaka says as she noticed the error appeared again.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg ´Anyway, I tried tracing the signal that's generating the error, and while I couldn't pinpoint the exact location I did manage to place it near the area where Nagato-san and Misaka 11111 are staying, says Misaka as Misaka brags about her abilities.´

$\\11111\msg 'But this Misaka hasn´t detected more anomalies than usual around here… Misaka states her report.'

[ERROR] [MSK-500] [Client 22cc8d24ed587ca1b2359318e0e40e46] Unable to connect with client 22cc8d24ed587ca1b2359318e0e40e46: unknown protocol, connection refused.

$\\10032\msg 'There is it again… Misaka says annoyed.'

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'I know! says Misaka as Misaka has an idea. Nagato-san, could you please connect to the signal directly? Maybe you can communicate with it, says Misaka as Misaka is making a request. '

$\\Nagato\msg ´I could try… Nagato considers the request, but for safety reasons I´ll make the test while being disconnected… Nagato states her conditions.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'As you wish, says Misaka as Misaka accepting the terms, please take all the precautions you deem necessary, says Misaka as Misaka doesn´t want to take unnecessary risks.'

$\\Nagato\msg ´Ok, please send me the details and I'll begin the test as soon as possible… Nagato says as she prepares the materials to make a log of the operation.´

$\\SysAdmin\msg 'Consider it done says Misaka as Misaka sends the data.'

$\\10032\msg 'Be careful Nagato-san… Misaka says as she gets a bad feeling about this.'

$\\Nagato\msg 'I will… Nagato says thankful.'

[ERROR] [MSK-500] [Client 4b75796f755f53756f75] Unable to connect with client 4b75796f755f53756f75: unknown protocol, connection refused.

* * *

**Chapter 21:**

"Hey Kyon!"

Huh? I snapped out of my daze just in time to hear my dear leader calling out to me.

"Are you ok? You have been out of it ever since we made our orders, you didn´t even noticed when the coffee arrived."

One look at the table made clear she was right, I had no idea when those cups got there. "Sorry, I was just remembering some things."

"Is something troubling you?"

I took a little sip of my coffee. "Not really…"

"I see…"

"How about you? How are the rehearsals coming along?" as I asked that question she took a sip of her coffee before gazing out the window.

"They'd been fine I guess… I really feel like we've been improving a lot, and the songs are coming along nicely, if we can finish them during the week we should have our first recording session before next month."

"The songs? I didn´t know you girls were composing."

"Yeah, it turns out ENOZ doesn't have enough original material to record a full album, so we've been working on a few compositions of our own."

"I see, I look forward to hearing them."

Haruhi took yet another sip of her coffee and turned her gaze back to me.

"Hey Kyon, would you mind if I tell you something?"

Not really.

"But you have to promise me that you won´t tell anyone ok?"

"Sure, you have my word."

"Well…" She sighed. "You know yesterday during the rehearsal one of the executives of the record label came to visit us and he wanted to talk to me in private."

And what would he want to speak with you?

"You see… The thing is that…" She took a deep breath and then sighed. "It seems the label wants me to ditch Yuki and Ichigo-chan to join Enoz."

"Really? Why? What's wrong with Nagato and Ichigo-san?"

"I'm not sure… According to him is because they feel they're not marketable or something."

I strongly disagree with that notion, although I guess your mileage might vary… "I don´t get it, I thought you were only there to do a collaboration with them."

"That was what I used to believe, but I don't know, the more I think about the more I'm sure that was just a catch to get me to sign up for this thing."

I suppose I should´ve expected that to happen "So what did you tell him?"

"I told him I wouldn't do it, but..."

I don´t like where this is going.

"Then he told me that he could call off the whole album if I didn't comply and that I should think about it more carefully."

"So now you're not sure what to do."

"Not at all… I know exactly what I'm going to do; I just wanted to know your opinion."

Well on one hand I honestly don't believe Haruhi wants to see the album cancelled and I don't think Nagato or Ichigo-san would care if she were to leave them and join Enoz, but knowing her like I do I'm sure there's only one answer to that question.

"You're going to call on his bluff, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yes." And then sighed. "Or at least I´ll try… If I´m honest with you I doubt they'll cancel the album as long as I´m still involved somehow…"

That makes sense, even if they can't get Haruhi to sign up with them; an album with a few of her songs should allow them to cash in on the Suzumiya craze. It's like bundling an unknown game with a demo of a more popular one; still I have to ask...

"But, what if you're wrong?"

She dropped her shoulders a little. "I don't know… on one hand I don't want to hurt Nakanishi-san and the others… But on the other hand I can't abandon my friends like that; I just can't do it."

I know, if you could you would be an idol studying in Academy City right now, and none of this would be an issue.

"It's no fun if I'm by myself you know."

What a mess, poor Koizumi must be working overtime right now… Still I suppose I can't stay quiet after this.

"Cheer up Haruhi."

She just looked at me and raised an eyebrow, probably wondering how I could say that so calmly.

"Nothing good will come out of you sulking because of this, so just cheer up or otherwise you're not going to give it your all when you're recording and you'll regret it."

Then she sighed and looked down.

"Seriously Kyon, and here I thought you were going to give me some epic advice or something…"

"Really? Because I don't think you need my advice, nor do I have any to give."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I trust you to make the right decision, and I'll support you no matter what that is."

Then the melancholic smile she had on her face turned into a real one, before she started laughing.

"Idiot! Of course I will! I don't need you to tell me that…"

She chuckled a little after she said those words before taking a breath and muttering a little. "Thanks…" before taking the last sip of her coffee.

"Anyway Kyon, It´s getting late and I think we should get going now."

"Sure, let's go."

I asked the waitress for our check and less than five minutes later we were out of the restaurant and on our way home.

**The Holy Church of Suzumiya Haruhi.**

"Yes, I understand…"

On the main office of a recently built convent, its newly appointed Mother Superior known as Agnese Sanctis was receiving a phone call from the leader of the Church of Necessarius.

"The building was completed today ahead of schedule, it's still missing some furniture and a few important decorations and the ones it does have are quite humble, but that was inevitable as our budget was running short and we needed to focus on finishing the living quarters and installing all the basic commodities."

The living quarters had to accommodate every single member of the Agnese Force plus whatever visitors they may have; it also had to serve as storage for all their weapons, provisions and possessions, and include facilities for bathing, cooking, eating, training, recreation and of course plenty of restrooms.

This kind of building would usually take a large amount space, unfortunately for them the terrain that was secured by the Church of Necessarius was not large enough to easily accommodate such a facility, and they also needed space to build the rest of the Church, so a good chunk of their living quarters had to be built underground.

But thanks to their clever use of several magical tools and spells crafted specifically for these kinds of tasks, their project that would take regular contractors around a year to finish was done in exactly twelve days… a fact that Agnese not only found extremely hard to believe, but also made her incredibly proud of her team.

"Yes, I gave everyone a couple days to rest and then we'll have to start looking for part-time work to secure our funding, I doubt we'll have enough followers on this town to support the whole Church by itself."

However procuring said tools and spells, plus materials and other administrative charges made their construction expenses skyrocket and now the battle nuns of the Agnese Forces were so out of budget that they would have to work outside the Church to support themselves.

"… Worst case scenario we can always try working on the construction business."

She chuckled to herself, but her smile was cut short as the person on the other side of the phone asked her something that required a little more seriousness.

"Yes, the barrier around the Church is complete, but about the spell… Yes, the obstruction I mentioned in my last reports continues, and we still haven't been able to pinpoint the source."

She paused for a second.

"I'm sorry, but I had most of the force in construction duties and couldn't really spare too many people scouting the region. In the end I decided to change the original plans for the mana flow in secret and increase the amount of casters in a substantial amount."

Truth be told, while the obstruction puzzled her, she had lots of pressure from her superiors to get the spell working so she decided to activate it first and then take their time to investigate that matter; it would be easier with the spell in place anyway.

"Yes, I understand, we're ready to proceed and it should be done later today, I'll contact headquarters when we get it working… By the way, about the petition I made last Monday... Yes, the one to cooperate with that science side organization."

…

"I understand, I'll inform Kanzaki of your decision."

She said her goodbyes then hung up the phone and finally gave a huge sigh.

"It can't be helped I guess… "

Agnese then carefully walked towards a main hall of the Church, a large venue that would in regular circumstances have several rows of wooden seats for the people that attended mass, but this time was completely free of furniture and filled with nearly every nun under her command.

"Sister Lucia, how are the preparations going?"

She got closer to the sister in charge of the operation, and gazed at the magic circle that was drawn with chalk on the roof and was glowing slightly.

"We successfully finished the first stages, we are ready Sister Agnese, we only need your command and then we'll start with the casting."

She nodded and then looked at all the nuns that were gathered on the hall.

"Why is everyone here? We only need about a hundred magicians to cast the spell."

Lucia looked at Agnese with her face that was as serious as ever.

"They told me is because they wanted to be present in our moment of triumph."

Agnese gave herself a satisfied smile.

"I understand, with this I believe we can finally give closure to this project… By the way I don't see Orsola, where is she?"

"She should be helping Sister Angelene and the younger sisters that are on dishwashing duty."

"Really? I thought she wanted to be present when we casted the spell? At least that was the excuse she gave us for not going back to England yet."

Lucia nodded.

"I told her that, but she insisted."

Agnese sighed.

"It can't be helped, I'd like to wait for them to join us but we shouldn't delay this any further, I don't want our enemy to catch up to what we're doing, let's begin."

The spell required several casters channeling their mana in form of a song at the magic circle on the roof, which would then mold itself into a three dimensional map that covered more or less 50 km around the Church, then it would start to pinpoint the several magical sources on that same map.

The process was complicated not only the spell itself but also a few secondary spells that had to be placed to automatically move the circle into a hidden room that was made specifically for monitoring duties, as unfortunately since they needed a huge amount of people to cast it, it would be impossible to fit them all on said room and chant the spell there.

Lucia nodded at Agnese's orders and signaled the other sisters to begin singing; then she took a step back as she wouldn't be joining the chant herself.

As the song progressed Agnese noticed the circle metamorphosing into the map of the city, then the nuns ended their chant and they all stared at the ceiling to marvel at the fruit of their combined labor.

Once the circle finished morphing, the first source of magic appeared rather quickly, it was on that very same Church as it was the spell itself, as she saw it, the leader of the battle nuns whispered to herself.

"It's detecting itself…? Oh well we can always recalibrate it later, the important thing right now is that it works…"

Then another source appeared rather far from where they were, Agnese wondered about it, it couldn't be Kanzaki as they had notified her about the spell and it was completely off from where she said she would be; and so one by one every single nun on the hall could not help but to recognize the little bright dot that appeared on the map as the enemy that tried to block their spell the last few days…

**Sometime later.**

"You know Kyon, Christmas is right around the corner and I was thinking we should have a party."

Really? With all the crazy things that happened lately I had completely forgotten about that, although I guess I did noticed the weather was getting colder recently.

"So I was planning a few things we could do, I'll bring it up on the club room tomorrow."

Just as she said that, Haruhi stopped and faced me.

"Well Kyon, thanks a lot for the drinks but this is where we part ways…"

"Ok, I guess I´ll see you tomorrow…"

"Of course! Remember we have training 4:00am in the morning!"

How could I forget that…? Anyway after that little exchange Haruhi turned around again and…

"Someone… Please… Help me!"

Huh? I noticed someone screaming and suddenly I felt something colliding into my leg and then falling into the ground.

"What´s wrong Kyon?"

Haruhi turned back to me again and we both noticed a little girl laying on the floor, she got closer and helped her stand up.

"Are you ok…?"

Once the little girl got back on her feet, we could notice she was one of the two nuns that were looking for that weird nun back on Monday, and also the one who saw us off on that Church that very same day; Angelene-san was her name if I recall correctly; anyway the little nun didn't really looked at us and just began to speak as fast as she could in a panic.

"Please help! Everyone is…! I don´t know they´re all sleeping and I…! I tried calling the number and they didn't believe me and… and…! Orsola-san told me to look for help but I… I…! We just got to this town and I don´t know anyone here and I…! I just don´t know what to do!"

After blurting that out she began to breathe faster and I could see a few tears threatening to come out of her eyes, yet before they could Haruhi placed her index finger on the tip of the nun´s nose and pushed upwards a little until she looked like a little piggy.

"Calm down."

The girl finally raised her gaze and looked at Haruhi, her face changing expressions completely when she saw who she was.

"You are…"

Haruhi nodded.

"Yes, we met on Monday remember? We didn´t introduced ourselves back then so we'll do it now ok? My name is Suzumiya Haruhi and this one next to me is Kyon, what's your name?"

The nun sniffed a little.

"I'm Sister Angelene."

Haruhi smiled at her.

"Ok, Angelene-chan, now take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

She took a deep breath and then hit the sides of her face with her hands to calm herself.

"I live in a Church that's nearby, I was on dishwashing duty with a few of ours sisters and everyone else was in the main hall, then when we were finished with the dishes I went to see what they were doing and… and…"

She sniffed a few times again.

"Sister Agnese, Sister Lucia and everyone else were on the floor, they wouldn't answer when I called them and I… I…"

Haruhi then grabbed Angelene-san and pulled her in for a hug.

"That´s ok, you don´t need to say more, now don´t worry about anything, I promise everything´s going to be alright."

Haruhi let go of her and the little nun looked at directly into her eyes, apparently calmed down again.

"I understand, if Suzumiya-san says so then I´ll have faith on you."

Haruhi smiled and gave her a little nod.

"Good girl, now listen, you need to take us to your Church ok? We can´t do anything for your sisters standing around in this place."

She nodded and then said a little "Please follow me." Before running off in the direction her Church was, and no more than 10 minutes later we were at the doors.

"This is the place."

Angelene-san got closer to the big wooden doors on the main entry and opened them, and soon as she did I could understand why she was panicking earlier.

"What the heck happened here…?"

I could hear Haruhi said as she went into the Church, inside were dozens… no, probably more than two hundred nuns fallen on the floor, some just laying on top of each other as if they had just collapsed on the spot, they didn't move at all and to be honest they didn't even seem to be breathing.

"Everyone, I brought someone… Suzumiya Haruhi-san and her friend came to help us!"

Among the nuns that were piled on the floor, there were also a few that were with them trying to wake them up, around seven at most, all of them looked about as young as Angelene-san with one exception, that being the first nun we met on Monday, the one Haruhi said had a bird nest were her brain should be.

"Suzumiya-sama!"

As soon she noticed us, she approached Haruhi and so did the other nuns.

"You're… Orsola-san was it?"

She nodded at her with a serious face.

"That's correct, Suzumiya-sama."

"Ok, could you tell me what happened here Orsola-san?"

"I don't know, we were washing the dishes while the rest were having a ceremony, when we finished we came to the main hall and… they were like this."

Funny, compared to the absentminded nun from Monday, Orsola-san seems a lot more reliable right now, maybe she's one of those persons that can handle herself well on times of crisis, anyway after that Haruhi asked the question I didn't want to do myself.

"Are they…?"

"No, they are still breathing albeit only slightly, and their pulse is very weak too, for what I could tell they only appear to be unconscious, but they didn't respond at all when we tried calling them."

Haruhi took a deep breath.

"I understand, listen I'm going to call 119, they are going to send some paramedics here, but there's too many people so in the mean time we'll need to accommodate your sisters on the floor ok?"

All the nuns nodded and Orsola-san spoke.

"I understand, we'll go get some blankets and pillows and then we'll start moving them."

Haruhi nodded back at them.

"Ok, I'll go outside for a moment to make the call, Kyon help them with anything they need."

I nodded at her while she ran outside.

"Kyon-san, follow me please."

I followed Orsola-san and two other nuns inside the Church into a storage room that had tons of blankets and pillows among several other things stashed inside, I made a stack with as many blankets as I could lift and then carried them back into the main hall, as soon as I got there a nun that stayed behind took the two top blankets of the pile extended them on the corner of the room, another nun placed a pillow that Orsola-san gave her on it while the last two gently carried one of their sisters, placed her on the makeshift futon and put another blanket over her, all that in less than a few minutes.

"Good work everyone! Now move on to the next, remember to place the futons as close together as you can while leaving enough space to walk through."

And this magnificent coordination was thanks to Angelene-san who was commanding the rest quite well, a far cry from that panicking little girl she was but less than half an hour ago. Anyway I was going to go back to the storage room to get more blankets when I heard my dear leader coming back into the hall.

"I can't believe those guys! Despite me telling them that what was going on and kindly asking them to come help, they tell me there's no Church in this area, and that I shouldn't prank call 119, they even asked me if I was with the little girl that called earlier… Useless idiots!"

Then she gave a huge sigh.

"I mean come on, I admit I hadn't noticed this place before, but I don't work in an emergency service! And it's not like buildings like this appear out of thin air!"

Well, to be fair I think this one kind of did, not that I'm defending them, emergency workers should respond to every call regardless of anything and in normal situations they always do.

"Anyway, since it seems we're on our own on this for now I sent a message to the rest of the brigade asking them to report for duty, they should get here A.S.A.P. Angelene-chan, what can I do to help?"

"Suzumiya-san, please go to Orsola-san on the storage room and bring more blankets and pillows, and tell the sisters with her to come help carry everyone."

I could see Haruhi raising an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? I think you should leave the heavy lifting to us, I don´t mind and I´m sure Kyon can handle it.

Angelene-san just shook her head.

"Please don't worry about it, we're used to hard work, and…" Then I could see she was eyeing me. "Well Suzumiya-san is fine, but… having a strange man touching… I don't think it's appropriate." Then she blushed.

Oh well, I suppose I can understand how she feels, plus I´m not sure how comfortable would I be carrying an unconscious nun around.

"I'm sorry."

My dear leader just sighed for like the hundredth time in the last 15 minutes. "Well, whatever…" Then she followed me inside, yet before we could get out of the main hall she stopped again. "Why is it so hot in here? The heating's off and outside is pretty cold…" Then she looked around the room. "Angelene-chan. Why are the windows closed?"

The little nun took her index finger to her lower lip and looked up. "I´m not sure, they were like this when we got here… I think they had to lock the room for the ceremony."

"I see… You know, I was thinking maybe what happened was that with so many people gathered on this place with no ventilation they breathed all the oxygen in the room and then passed out from deprivation."

I´m not sure that's how that works… Anyway, Angelene-san looked at her with a face that spelled she had no idea what Haruhi was talking about, and all she could say was a little "maybe…"

"In any case we have to open the windows; they need to get as much fresh air as possible, also if it gets too cold turn up the heating, it might waste electricity but they need to be warm too."

The little nun simply nodded at her. "Of course Suzumiya-san, I'll go open them right away!"

As the nun went to do what she was told, Haruhi followed me into the storage room, and then we began moving whatever was needed, as time went on and Angelene-san and the rest of the nuns had moved around a dozen or so of the girls on the floor, cavalry arrived.

"What happened here?"

Was all Kanzaki-san could say when she arrived, and together with her were Asahina-san, Koizumi and surprisingly enough Tsuruya-san; as soon as they got in we said hi to each other and made some introductions.

"So Kaori-neesan… You already know Orsola-san and Angelene-san?"

Kanzaki-san nodded.

"Yes, I've met their congregation before."

And Orsola-san did too.

"We even lived together for a while back in London."

"Really? What a coincidence…"

"Indeed, now Haruhi-san I need to speak with Orsola in private for a minute."

"Sure Kaori-neesan, no problem."

After that both girls excused themselves and left us with the other three that just arrived.

"Man, what a mess Haru-nyan, what did you guys do to this nuns?"

She said with a huge grin, it's funny how Tsuruya-san never seemed to be serious about anything.

"By the way, if you're wondering why I am here is because coincidentally today I was playing with Mikuru and Kaorin and decided to tag along."

Why do I get the feeling she's not talking to us? Anyway, Haruhi ignored her second comment and answered the first.

"We're not sure, I think they passed out from oxygen deprivation, but it could be anything really."

Then Koizumi took his turn to speak.

"Have you tried calling 119 Suzumiya-san?"

Haruhi nodded.

"Yes, but apparently this huge Church we´re standing in right now doesn't exist so they won't come to help us… I'll call them again later and yell at them until they do, but first we need to get these girls into a comfortable position."

She placed her hands on her waists as she sometime does when she's about to give instructions or simply yell at me.

"Koizumi-kun, I want you and Kyon to ask Angelene-san or Orsola-san for other rooms we could use and clear some space, I doubt this hall is going to fit everyone and I don't want to use the yard, it's too cold and it's getting darker."

Koizumi just nodded and then Haruhi turned to Asahina-san, who nearly jumped when she did, she had been trembling the whole time ever since she arrived and noticed what was going on, but she had managed to keep her cool and didn't fell to her knees.

"Mikuru-chan, we're going to be doing a lot of manual labor and we're going to need some refreshments and a warm meal eventually, I want you to prepare them. Ask one of the sisters to lend you the kitchen and some ingredients, if you don't have enough, we'll go buy something from the convenience store with the brigade funds; I'm sorry but I think you're going to have to do the cooking by yourself though, we're short on people."

I could see Asahina-san inhaling some air into her lungs and then she nodded.

"I understand Suzumiya-san, I'll do my best."

Then finally she turned to Tsuruya-san.

"You are going to help me carry the nuns into the futons the other nuns are making."

As she received her orders, the green haired girl couldn't help but to whine.

"Huh? Why should we be the only ones doing the heavy stuff? Kyon-kun and Itsuki-kun should help too."

"I asked Angelene-san about it and she told me she didn't think it was appropriate."

Then Tsuruya-san got her index finger to her lower lip.

"I understand… Who knows what these dirty minded men might do to these beautiful young maidens now they're unconscious?"

How come she only looked at me when she said that? Koizumi is here too. Anyway, after that she grinned again and made a pose.

"But it doesn't matter; we don't need anyone else to do our work, right Haru-nyan?"

Haruhi grinned back at her.

"Of course not."

Then before she dismissed us Haruhi had one last question.

"Has anyone heard anything from Yuki or Ichigo-chan?"

Everyone just shook their heads.

"I see… Well I sent them a message, so I guess they´re on the way… Anyway let´s get to work everyone!"

As everyone else went to attend their duties, Koizumi and me went to Angelene-san as Haruhi instructed us to do, and she quickly directed us to the mess hall of the Church. There we found sufficient enough space, but unfortunately there were already plenty of foldable chairs and tables placed on it.

"I'm guessing we're going to have to move this stuff."

Koizumi just nodded at me and so we began doing just that.

"Kyon-kun, do you know what happened here?"

Beats me, I was actually wondering if you could tell me something.

"Unfortunately this incident appears to be outside my area of expertise, I'm not really that versed in magic."

"Neither am I really… Wait a second, you think this is magic?"

"I mean, it obviously doesn't seem something that Suzumiya-san would do and I have never heard of an esper that could do something like this."

"Maybe they really passed out from oxygen deprivation like Haruhi said?"

"I doubt it's something that simple…"

"I agree, in any case since Kanzaki-san seemed just as puzzled as we are, I only know two other people that could know something about this, Nagato who's supposed to be on the way, and… Wait a minute, I could call Index-san and ask her about it, I got her number back when we were in Academy City, remember?"

Koizumi smiled as if he was expecting me to say just that.

"That would be most helpful, why don't you call her right now?"

"That's not a bad idea, although if Haruhi gets here and we haven't finished clearing up the room, then…"

"Don't worry about that, I'll cover for you."

Perfect, anyway I pulled out my cell and just one look at the lock screen is enough to remind me that conversations through this phone might be monitored by obsessed yanderes, who now that I think about it, I haven't heard from lately, I thought she would be eager to charge me for her cooperation back in Academy City, but nope… Oh well now is not the time to think about that.

"_Hello? Touma? Why are you calling me from the bathroom?"_

"Hello, Index-san."

"_Kyon-san? Sorry I don't get many calls that are not from Touma so I never check who is calling, what can I do for you?"_

"Index-san I need your help to know whether or not something that happened around here is magic."

I heard a _puff_ from the speaker and for some reason I can totally imagine her beaming with pride as she spoke.

"_Of course! If its magic then I can help you with anything, just tell me what's going on."_

"Well basically there're like two hundred or so girls that passed out at the same time."

I could hear a little _'hmmph' _coming from the speaker.

"_That doesn't tell me much, there're plenty of spells that can make people unconscious; can you give me more details?"_

"Ok, for what I know everyone seems to be in some sort of coma, their breathing is really weak and apparently so is their pulse, also judging from the way we found them it seems likely they collapsed all of the sudden rather than being something more gradual."

As I said that Index-san voice became way more serious.

"_Were there signs of an attacker nearby?"_

"I'm not sure but I don't think so, the person who found them said the doors and windows of the room were closed and I couldn't see any signs of a break in, there´re no signs of a struggle either and the only wounds on them seem to have happened when they fell to the floor."

"_I see… Any idea of what they were doing before they passed out?"_

"I wouldn't know, apparently some kind of religious ceremony but I couldn't tell you the details."

"_Are you alone with them or is there someone else with you?"_

"What does that…?"

"_Answer me please."_

Ok, ok… no need to get angry. "Nearly the entire brigade is here with me, plus at least 9 other people."

"_Do any of the other people know about the existence of magic?"_

"Well of the 9 people I mentioned 8 are supposed to be battle nuns so I guess they do, though I'm guessing Tsuruya-san doesn't."

"_Battle nuns? Just what mess did you guys got into this time? _

Sorry, it's not like it's on purpose, these things just kind of happen.

'_Sigh' "Never mind Kyon-san… Has anyone else passed out after you found the first victims?"_

"No, no one."

"_Ok, one last question, do you know if those people had any enemies in common, or at least a person they resented?"_

"Not that I'm aware of… Although I do remember meeting them before and they said they were trying to cast a spell to trace magical sources or something and someone was blocking them."

"_I see… Kyon-san I might be wrong, but based on what you described the only spell I can think of is Divine Punishment."_

What?

"_Divine Punishment: It's a spell that mimics the act of God dealing punishment to those that harbor resentment towards him; it completely strips someone of their consciousness if they feel any ill will towards the caster by reducing the amount of oxygen in the victim's body to a minimum, forcing it into a state similar to hibernation."_

So technically if what she's saying is true, they did pass out from oxygen deprivation, who would've thought?

"_But it's weird…"_

Why?

"_Like I said the spell works when someone feels any ill will towards the caster, now there's no limitations to this, it works everywhere in the world and nothing short of a Pope level walking church would protect you from it; you don't even need to know who the caster is to be affected."_

"I don't think I'm following you."

"_But if you thought what happened to these girls was magic, chances are someone who knows about it would too, magic rarely ever happens by itself and most magicians would assume there is a guilty party when confronted with a situation like this..."_

"And if one of us who are still awake felt ill will towards that person."

"_Exactly, they would've passed out… Well I guess people that aren't really familiar with magic shouldn't react with those thoughts, and I don't think that kind of spell would work on Haruhi-san anyway, but there's a magician in your group and if you say there are battle nuns too then at least one of them should have."_

I could hear her mumbling something.

"_Kyon-san, I can't really say for sure without knowing all the details… But either someone modified the spell in some way or it's something different altogether."_

"I see… Either way, just in case, how do we cure someone affected by that spell? Do we need to get them oxygen or something?"

"_It's not that easy, there're two ways to stop Divine Punishment, either you find the person controlling the spell and convince him that punishment is no longer needed or you destroy the core of the spell directly."_

"The core of the spell?"

"_Yeah, usually it's a cross necklace or something similar being worn by the caster."_

You know there's something the human mind tends to do that's always puzzled me, which is the tendency to try to mix everything that happens so it's all related… So if Index-san tells me those things, then the gears on my head can't help but to try to tie it up with something else that happened earlier.

"Index-san, is it possible to modify that spell so that the person it's protecting it's not the one that casted it?"

"_Yes, said person would need to accept to carry the core of the spell and there're other considerations that should be done, but otherwise I don't see why it couldn't be possible."_

I see…

"_Kyon-san, just what is going on?"_

"Index-san I'm not really sure about that myself."

I could hear her sigh from across the phone.

"You're just like Touma, oh well I guess I can't really do anything from here plus you have Haruhi-san on your side so everything should be fine."

I wish I could share her optimism.

"_Index! Kimidori-san said dinner will be ready in a minute."_

"_Touma… Anyway Kyon-san, I got to go now, please call me later when you can explain everything to me ok?"_

I just gave her an "Of course!" and then she hung up the phone.

"Was she of any help?"

I turned around to face Koizumi and noticed he had already moved about half the stuff on the room, but we still had a lot of work to do.

"I think so, but for the time being we better concentrate on this, I'll explain later."

He nodded at me and then we got back to work.

**A few hours later.**

"Here you go Kyon-kun."

"Thank you, Asahina-san."

I took the plate of curry rice that was offered to me and then quietly sat on the steps of the main entrance to finally enjoy a warm meal. I was a little tired as despite Angelene-san's protests, me and Koizumi ended up carrying a few nuns to their futons once fatigue started to set in, and we realized there was no way we would finish on a reasonable timeframe if we didn't.

Well, 'fatigue' might not be the right word, exhaustion might be more fitting as most of the nuns that'd been working since the beginning looked as if they could join their sisters on the floor at any minute, luckily Asahina-san's tea and food helped everyone recover their strength and stay on their toes, bless Haruhi for thinking so far ahead.

Anyway, the hard part was already done as every single sister that collapsed this afternoon was resting on a futon, the few that had suffered injuries when they fell being treated by the nuns that were awake as they waited for the paramedics to arrive… Assuming we can convince them that this Church exists that is.

"Finally!"

As I was eating my meal, I heard Haruhi yelling and then saw her and Tsuruya-san coming from the yard, they each took a plate of curry rice from Asahina-san and joined me sitting on the steps.

"I'm guessing your victory cry means that paramedics are finally coming."

My dear leader ate a spoonful of her curry before answering me, she looked a little worn out but not tired per se.

"Yes, Tsuruya-san finally managed to convince them."

I could see Tsuruya-san grinning, she just like Haruhi looked more worn out than tired, albeit a little more on the tired side but still enough for her to have her usual behavior.

"I didn't exactly convince them, I just used a little of my family's influence and skipped the more unbelievable details."

Well as long as they come its ok I guess, I mean after my conversation with Index-san I'm not sure if they can really help in this case, but I don't see them hurting either.

"Yeah, I suppose next time something like this happen I'll try to keep things simple, it's a better course of action."

I agree.

"But that aside you surprised me Haru-nyan, I didn't expect to find you guys in this situation, last time I saw you all together was in that restaurant a couple of weeks ago."

That was when we were trying to raise money for my trip to Academy City, she was with her two new friends back then.

"Speaking about that, I talked to Himechii and Seichan the other day and they told me about what happened last weekend… It's unbelievable Haru-nyan you're an idol now. "

"Not really…"

"Not to mention the way you handled this situations was great, I´m really impressed!"

I think I could see my dear leader blushing for a second.

"I just did what I had to do, and it wasn't just me, everyone helped."

"I guess you're right."

After saying that Tsuruya-san took the last bite out of her meal, then she placed her plate on the floor and stretched.

"Man, I'm beat… So what are we going to do now?"

"Now we wait for the paramedics and hope for the best."

After that exchange, I noticed Haruhi pulled out her cell phone and stared at the screen.

"They never answered me…"

"What's wrong Haruhi?"

She looked at me with a worried expression.

"Yuki and Ichigo-chan, I wrote them a message earlier on but they never answered me."

She placed the phone back in her pocket and looked at me.

"I tried calling them too but it´s no use either; to be honest I'm a little a worried about them."

"I could go check on them if you wish Haruhi-san."

From behind us Kanzaki-san appeared with an empty plate on her hands.

"That would be great Kaori-neesan, but aren't you tired?"

"No, not at all."

Which I must admit was quite surprising, as she had been working non-stop even since she arrived, and unlike everyone else who worked in pairs, whenever Kanzaki-san had to carry someone she did it by herself.

"Don't worry about her Haru-nyan, Kaorin is physically unable to get tired, or at least that's what it seems whenever we're on P.E."

Haruhi looked at her confused for a second before hitting her palm with her fist.

"Oh yeah, you two and Mikuru-chan are on the same class aren't you?"

They both nodded… Wait a minute; I thought Taniguchi said Kanzaki-san was a third year back when she arrived on school.

"Who?"

Kanzaki-san looked at me with confusion, as if she had no idea who I was talking about.

"You know, Taniguchi… The guy that was cheering on you during the kendo match… the same one who drank 97 cups of coffee just to get his check from you."

"I don't remember meeting anyone by that name during those dates… or at all."

Well… I guess they really didn't interact back then, and it's unreasonable to expect her to remember every single person that cheered on her in a gym full of people or that she served as waitress working during a whole day.

"He's no one you should worry about Kaori-neesan."

Kanzaki-san nodded at Haruhi.

"Either way Kyon-san, it is true that I am old enough to be in third year, but there were a few problems when making the equivalences of my grades during my enrollment and I ended up in second year together with Mikuru and Tsuruya-san."

Oh well, that changes everything… Ok, not really but still… poor Taniguchi.

"Whatever… Anyway Kaori-neesan, Is it ok? I was planning to go there myself later on, so you can go home and rest if you want."

Kanzaki-san looked at Haruhi directly into her eyes and smiled to her.

"Yes, don't worry about it; I´m not tired at all… and if anything you're the one who should rest Haruhi-san."

Then my dear leader turned towards me

"Ok then… Kyon, you know where Yuki's home is right? I want you to go with her. I don´t want to send Kaori-neesan all by herself so late at night."

Sure, no problem… Worst case scenario she´ll protect me.

"I could get them a cab if you wish Suzumiya-san."

And from out of nowhere Koizumi appeared with that proposal.

"Sure Koizumi-kun!"

He smiled at her and then made a call.

"Done, the cab should be here in a couple of minutes."

And literally it arrived around two minutes later or so; I'm guessing that´s not because the driver was coincidentally resting nearby but rather because it belongs to his organization. Oh well, at the very least that means the ride should be free.

"Call me as soon as you get there, ok?"

"What about you Haruhi, what are you going to do now?"

She gave me a sigh and then answered me.

"I'll stay and help with the dishes until the paramedics get here, then depending on what happens I'll decide what to do next."

Kanzaki-san got closer to her.

"Ok, but if it gets too late ask Orsola for a room and stay until tomorrow."

Haruhi nodded at her.

"Sure!"

"Don't worry about that Kaorin, we are going to stay here with her to help, right Mikuru?

Asahina-san just said a little "Yes." And then nodded with a smile.

"I'll just call someone to get us home later on."

And after that Koizumi added his plans as well.

"I´ll stay for a while too."

"Ok, thank you everyone."

Kanzaki-san went to the main entrance and picked up the huge nodachi that she had left right behind the door and then after spending a minute or so trying to accommodate that thing inside the cab we were finally on our way to Nagato's house.

"Kanzaki-san, was it really a good idea to leave? What about what we talked about the other day."

She turned to look at me and answered with her serious voice.

"Don't worry about it, that Church is being protected by a magical barrier."

But that didn't stopped whatever made all those nuns pass out.

"Not to mention Koizumi-kun's is with them, so everything will be ok over there."

She pointed at the driver with her eyes, subtly letting me now that I'm not the only one that noticed how fast this taxi arrived, and most notably how it seemed to know where we were going without asking us.

"For the time being, I prefer settling this matter and letting Haruhi-san relax a bit, otherwise she might exhaust herself and then who knows what might happen."

Knowing her I don't think she'll really relax until everything is A-Ok, but this should help her take some worries out of her mind, I agree.

"Kanzaki-san, what do you think happened to those nuns?"

She let out a sigh and then whatever hint of a smile she might have had on her face disappeared.

"I'm not sure myself, for what I could see it seems they're under some sort of spell."

So she thinks the same as Koizumi. I wondered whether or not I should tell her about the conversation I had with Index-san, yet I'm not sure, she's obviously the best person on the brigade to discuss magic with, but if I'm not careful with my words then…

"By the way Kyon-san, did you meet with your friend from middle school?"

Oh great, I was hoping she wouldn't remember that.

"Judging by that face you made, I'm guessing things didn't go as you expected them."

Do they ever?

"But I suppose now it's not the time to talk about that, we'll discuss those things tomorrow."

I nodded at her and then we spent the rest of the trip in silence. Once we arrived at the apartment complex, the driver gave me his phone number in case we needed a ride back home.

"So this is where Nagato-san lives…"

Yes it is… You know now that I think about it, both Nagato and Ichigo-san are supposed to be missing, but everyone –myself included- only thought about coming to Nagato's apartment to search for them, not even considering the possibility of them not being together or that they might have been at Ichigo-san's home wherever that could be.

"Kyon-san, which apartment is it?"

"That'd be room 708 if I remember correctly Kanzaki-san."

But of course, taking into account that I can easily count on one hand the times I've seen those two more than 20 meters apart ever since Ichigo-san joined the brigade, I think it's second nature by now to consider them as one, not that we don't think of them as different individuals of course, but more like a binary star were the two orbit each other and thus are always together in a sense.

"Ok, I'll go on ahead."

As for why we thought of Nagato's apartment rather than looking for… Wait a minute, I turned around to where Kanzaki-san was standing a few seconds ago, but she wasn't there anymore and seeing how I didn't notice her going into the building, I'm going to guess… magic.

Anyway that doesn't matter I suppose, I went inside the building and took the elevator to Nagato's floor, once there I found the door to her apartment was opened.

"Sorry for intruding…"

But my greeting was cut short when I noticed Kanzaki-san standing near the door, in front of her was Ichigo-san, she was seating on the floor, her eyes even more cold than usual and I could notice she seemed to be covered in… Actually the floor, walls, the roof, everything was covered some red substance… And right next to her was… was… Nagato?

She was laying on the floor unmoving, some of her limbs bending in an odd way, all covered in blood that seemed to have burst out of her mouth and the cuts that were all over her body, and even though they were bleeding and as bloodshot as they could be, as soon as I entered the room her eyes still moved to meet with mine.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's note: **Special thanks to werewolf2005 for helping me as a beta reader.

* * *

**Chapter 22:**

"_Hello?"_

"Hey Haruhi."

"_Kyon? What happened? Did you find Yuki and Ichigo-chan?"_

"Yes, turns out Nagato felt a little ill and Ichigo-san was taking care of her."

"_Really? I didn't know Yuki was sick. They should've told me, I would've cooked something for her."_

"Well according to her she'll be fine for school tomorrow, so I guess it's nothing serious."

"_I see, but why didn't they answer the phone at least?"_

"Yeah… I asked Ichigo-san about that and she told me that she'd been busy taking care of Nagato and had been neglecting to answer the phone."

'_Sigh' "Oh well, as long as they're Ok there's no problem…"_

"How are things over there?"

"_Well the paramedics arrived a few minutes ago and so far they've checked their vitals and stuff."_

"Great, listen we're going to stay here for a while to help Ichigo-san with a few things."

"_No problem, when you're done call me again and we'll decided what to do."_

"Sure."

"_Ok, bye Kyon."_

"Bye Haruhi."

I hung up the phone after telling Haruhi another round of half-truths and then turned around to ask the same question I'd asked about a dozen times already.

"Nagato… are you sure you're ok?"

She remained on the floor, her eyes shifting towards me a little before she opened her mouth to let out some blood and say, "I'm fine." She then returned to her motionless state… Now for some reason I'm still not convinced, but I suppose I'm not going to get a better answer than that.

"Ichigo-san, what happened to her?"

Kanzaki-san however had the much better idea of asking Ichigo-san: who remained seated at Nagato's side, almost as unmoving as she was. She only tilted her head a little bit as if to look at us without losing sight of Nagato.

"Earlier today a strange signal tried to connect to the Misaka network, said signal was causing an error due to an unknown protocol… Misaka explains the context of the situation. The system administrator traced it back to this area, so she asked Yuki to try to connect to it to see if she could communicate with it… Misaka explains what happened."

"So that signal thing did this to her?"

Ichigo-san shook her head slightly to Kanzaki-san's question and continued.

"Yuki tried to connect and establish a protocol with it for nearly twenty minutes, she did seem to be developing some sort of fever during the test, but according to her this was not the cause, but rather the accident happened shortly after an anomaly appeared between her and the signal's origin, that was when she… she… Misaka purposely leaves her sentence unfinished."

So it wasn't pretty I suppose, then again I could guess that just by seeing Nagato on the floor with her blood sprayed everywhere.

Either way now is not the time to freak out. She says she's fine, so I got to believe in her. I need to keep calm and think things through, otherwise those words I said to Ichigo-san back in Academy City would be for nothing.

"What do you mean 'According to her'? I thought you girls synchronized your memories with each other or something. "

"No. Due to security concerns, Yuki did the experiment while disconnected and refused to connect again until we determine it was safe… Misaka explains the conditions of the experiment."

Then for the first time since we arrived, Ichigo-san turned her sight completely away from Nagato and faced both of us directly.

"She also took a log out of the entire connection… Misaka states another safety requirement. Misaka tried analyzing it but couldn't extract any valuable information from it… Misaka says ashamed. So I was thinking maybe you could try reading it and see if you can find something useful… Misaka states her request. I believe the key to find out what happened to Yuki is in there…"

It's interesting how the best indicator that she's really worried about Nagato is that she doesn't state her worry at the end of her sentence.

"Sure, I don't know much about the science stuff you girls use, but at the very least we can try, right Kyon-san?"

I nodded at Kanzaki-san's words and Ichigo-san stood up and moved towards the table in the middle of the apartment. There in front of what I presume must be where the blood started gushing out, was a laptop. She opened it, and I could notice the screen and the keyboard where somewhat clean unlike the rest of the frame, so she must have wiped it off.

"This is the document… Misaka opens the log."

She double clicked a text file and inside of it was… well it looked like a bunch of garbage typed at random. She scrolled through it, and while I could sometimes recognize words or even figures drawn with characters, there didn't seemed to be any significance to it.

"According to Yuki this is the spot where the anomaly started… Misaka points at line 3141592653."

On the line she pointed out, I could see sentences that kind of looked like an ancient language. While I couldn´t read it, there was definitely something intelligible written there, it stretched on for several dozens of lines before going into some weird arrangement of characters.

"That is… Could you put this part on paper for me please?"

On the other hand Kanzaki-san seemed to know what it was; she took the sheets of paper that Ichigo-san gave her and then analyzed them for a while before looking at Nagato on the floor.

"Nagato-san… I don't know much about you, but am I wrong to assume you're similar to an esper?"

Suddenly the trail of blood that was on Nagato´s mouth disappeared, and she could speak without spitting more on the floor.

"It's possible for me to integrate with the dispersion field called AIM espers commonly emit; it's what makes connection to the Misaka network a possibility."

"It's nearly impossible to measure, but we have real world data that indicates Nagato-san's AIM-like dispersion field is at the very least several orders of magnitude stronger than the one emitted by the first ranked esper… Misaka adds her own observations hoping they'll be useful."

Kanzaki-san considered this information for a moment before continuing.

"I don't think I'm following you, does that mean that you're only similar to an esper when you need to be? Like when you talk to Ichigo-san in your mind."

"Yes."

"I see… listen this might sound like a weird question, but did you need to be an esper to do what you were doing when you found this?"

She showed her the papers and Nagato barely looked them before saying.

"Yes."

Then Kanzaki-san sighed and kneeled closer to her.

"Nagato-san, this anomaly you found is a spell some colleagues of mine were going to cast today, and judging by the date on this thing the time seems to match… I believe that connection you were doing somehow read the spell and forced you to help them cast it."

That makes me remember something Kanzaki-san told Mugino back when we were in that closed space… about how someone like her trying to use magic would tear her apart.

"Listen, magic and esper powers work under different laws, if an esper tries to cast magic or vice versa then that person will be receiving an enormous amount of damage due to the negative effect."

…

"Could that be what happened to you Nagato-san? Are you even able to use magic?"

"Up until recently it was impossible for Humanoid Interfaces to use mana, but certain new developments were made, and protocols that allowed us to emulate it were created. Telesma on the other hand remains inaccessible."

There was a moment where no one said anything.

"Now, I know Kyon-san asked this question like a dozen times already, but are you really OK? This kind of thing can be wildly unpredictable so I need to know."

"The damage done by the anomaly has already been repaired by an 85%, regeneration has been troublesome due to there being both external and internal damage, but everything should be back to normal operation in a few hours."

I could see the cuts that were on Nagato's body closing and the blood on her clothes disappearing.

"Heh! I should've known you'd said that, after all you took a Dragon's Breath at point blank range and were completely unscathed, this should be nothing to you."

"That situation was completely different; this time the damage came from within, which made preventing or diminishing its effects impossible. It also caused several errors to appear which had to be treated before attempting regeneration of the external body."

"Well, then be very careful and heal yourself properly, now about the spell you helped cast, there's something else I need to ask you…"

Then Nagato's eyes slowly lost their red color and went back to normal.

"The colleagues I mentioned all fell unconscious after they finished chanting this thing: they were barely breathing and their pulse was really weak. Now I'm not saying you had something to do with it, I doubt that's the case, but rather I want to know if you noticed something strange or anything that might have called your attention during the time you were connected to it."

"Right before the anomaly ended I received an image coming from its origin point, it was a very detailed map of the surrounding area."

Kanzaki-san stood up and mumbled.

"That must have been the result of the spell… Can I see it?"

Suddenly, for the first time since we arrived, Nagato's body moved. She had some sort of convulsion that caused all of her limbs that were bending oddly, to snap back into position and then placed her in laying straight on the floor with her arms crossed on her belly.

"Yes, it's in the log file."

I'm assuming she means the weird arrangement of characters right after the spell. Looking at it more closely, it seemed like each line was divided into thousands of groups with seven characters each: the first being a # and the rest being a mix of numbers and the letters a, b, c, d, e and f.

Based on that I'm guessing this is the raw image data.

"I already converted the data into a bitmap file… Misaka says as she opens it."

She clicked on a picture that was right besides the text file and I instantly recognize it as a map of this area. It was very detailed, and I bet you could easily see the fire hydrants on the streets if one were to zoom in on it.

"What is this?"

However the thing that caught our attention the most were four spots marked on the map. The first three were little dots: one on Haruhi's church, one on this apartment, and the last one on the train station where I met Haruhi earlier. The fourth one however, the one Kanzaki-san was pointing at… well it was a huge round area that easily dwarfed all the others: eerily close to this place by the way.

"I don't know… Misaka says honestly. I tried scanning the area visually from the window but I couldn't find any kind of anomaly, and satellite images don't show anything out of the ordinary either… Misaka states her report. Misaka wanted to send an investigation team, but I'm taking care of Yuki and there're no more Misakas near this area… Misaka says as she plans to go there once Yuki recovers."

I could hear an almost inaudible sigh coming from Kanzaki-san before she said her next words.

"I'll go."

"Are you sure…? Misaka asks sincerely."

Kanzaki-san nodded at her but did not smile; rather she had quite a serious expression on her face.

"Yes, I want to investigate this for my colleague's sake."

"I understand. Are you going now…? Misaka ask curiously."

She nodded.

"I don't want to postpone this… I have a bad feeling."

Then Kanzaki-san turned to me.

"Kyon-san, could you accompany me please?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course… But are you sure it's ok? "

"Yes, I need you to check something… Also Ichigo-san, could you please give me a copy of that map?"

"Sure… Misaka says while she prints the file."

She handed Kanzaki-san the piece of paper and then we said our goodbyes. Honestly I didn't feel comfortable leaving Nagato like this, but Ichigo-san is taking care of her. And I also wanted to investigate this matter.

"Take care Nagato."

She looked at me right in the eyes, the rest of her body completely unmoving. Even though she didn't say anything, I couldn't help but to feel she wanted to say _'you too'_.

Just as we got out of the apartment as Kanzaki-san closed the door behind me, I could hear her sighing again.

"Just as I thought this night couldn't get any longer."

I can sympathize with that; hopefully Haruhi will stop time again to give us some time to sleep later on.

"Anyway, could you close your eyes and be still for a second Kyon-san?"

"Yeah, sure… But why?"

"Just trust me, and don't open them until I tell you."

Funny, this is not the first time today a girl tells me that. Anyway I did as she told me and then I could almost immediately feel her picking me up off the ground and carrying me princess style.

"Now, brace yourself."

I couldn't even say anything before I felt a huge gust of wind elevating my body in the air; at that point… well let's just say I pretty much panicked.

"Be still Kyon-san."

I barely heard Kanzaki-san say that as she tightened her grip. Suddenly the feeling of ascension ended, and there was a brief moment of calmness before I felt the horrible sensation of a free fall. There was a loud _'thud!'_ before yet another gust of wind took us in the air again. This went on for… I don't know. I lost count after the first three times.

"You can open your eyes now… and also please let go of me."

I opened my eyes only to find that in my panic, I must have hugged Kanzaki-san without noticing, because I was pretty much clinging to her: my arms tied strongly around her neck and my head pressed tightly against the side of her face. A rather awkward position… Although on further consideration, it actually feels pretty nice.

"Sorry."

I let go of her and then she placed me back on my (horribly unsteady) feet.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't hurt me."

Honestly I don't think I could even if I wanted to. Anyway, I took a second to analyze my surroundings and I could easily notice we were a few kilometers away from Nagato's apartment. I could still see her building in the distance though, and judging from that, I can deduce that we are near the circular area marked on the map.

"It did make jumping a little awkward, but nothing I can´t handle."

Wait a minute, does that mean…? You actually carried me while you were jumping through the buildings to get here?

"Sorry for doing that so suddenly, but I wanted to get here as soon as possible."

How is that even…? No, let me guess… magic.

"Never mind that Kanzaki-san… Now tell me, what's going on in this place?"

She took a good look around before answering me.

"I'm not sure… According to the map there should be a large concentration of magic in this area, and I can feel something weird about this place, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is."

"What does that means?"

"It means someone is hiding something in this place and we're going to fish whoever that is out."

Then she stood up in front of me and bowed.

"Sorry to involve you Kyon-san, but I want to have the perspective of someone from outside the magic side on this search; you see us magician are used to seeing things in a certain way, and that can cloud our judgment on things that might be obvious to regular people."

I understand, it makes sense I guess.

"Ok Kanzaki-san, I'll help you, but before we begin I need to ask something that's been bothering me."

"You mean about the other dots on the map?"

Bingo.

"About those, the one on the Church must have been the Agnese force chanting the spell, same for the one on Nagato-san's apartment. The last one must be related to that 'signal' thing Nagato-san was trying to communicate with. I'm assuming that if she was forced to cast it then the other end must have been forced too."

Wow! Kanzaki-san had everything figured out, and to think I thought she just ignored the others because this one was bigger. Although if that's true, then something doesn't quite fit…

"Well, let's begin Kyon-san. If I'm right, the key to find out what happened to the nuns must be in this place."

"Ok, what are we looking for exactly?"

"Anything that might seem out of place, or simply off being in this area. It's completely possible to hide magic on things that look normal at first glance… Also I want you to stay close to me at all times, and if you find something, leave it alone and call me immediately."

"Understood!"

And so we began our search. The area we had to cover wasn't really that big; if I understand the scale of this map correctly, it was about around the size of a city block. But that didn't make our task any easier and after half an hour or so of searching, we hadn't found anything. Seeing how it was nearing midnight, I decided to ask Kanzaki-san for a break on a nearby bench which she happily accepted.

"Man this is harder than I thought."

I offered her a tea bottle that I got from a nearby machine and sat down with her to enjoy my own.

"Yeah well hidden magic is nearly impossible to find."

You know, this is perhaps the first time I have a chance to speak with Kanzaki-san alone like this, so I couldn't resist and took advantage of the opportunity to try and find out more about her.

"Not the first time you had to do something like this?"

She chuckled.

"Nope, usually I'm the one hiding though."

"What do you mean?"

"Kyon-san, as you might know, I was raised in the the Amakusa-Style Remix of Church, we are experts in hiding our belief and customs on everyday activities. It's part of our culture."

I remember her mentioning that before the Academy City trip. Somehow I can't help but think that a church that is used to hiding is one used to being persecuted, but I rather not get into that topic.

"I see, sorry. I don't understand much about magic and that kind of stuff so it gets a little confusing."

"I can relate. To someone from the outside, the magic side can be overwhelming with its many factions and beliefs."

"About that…

She opened her bottle and looked at the cap disappointed.

"What's wrong?"

Then she took my hand and placed the cap on it.

"I won another bottle; you can have it Kyon-san."

"You don't want it?"

She gave me a melancholic smile and then lost her gaze on the horizon.

"It's not that, I just dislike that kind of contests. I'm not a fan of things that rely on luck."

I can respect that… Plus hey I get a free bottle.

"Never mind that, what were you going to ask me?"

"Well I was just getting confused with something. I mean I'm not sure if I'm going to say something offensive, but I was wondering how come you belong to the same church that Agnese-san and the rest of the nuns? I don't think you believe in the same things."

Seriously, Kanzaki-san says her church is used to hiding, but the first thing that Agnese-san did when she got here was build a giant church; not to mention that guy with the oversized shirt from the other day called her their former Supreme Pontiff, while the nuns we met on Monday had no such formalities.

"That is because we don't, they're Roman Catholics that don't answer to the Vatican."

Really? Even I know that's unusual, I bet there's an interesting story behind that.

"The church we belong to is known as the church of necessary evil, or Necessarius. Basically we're a church created to neutralize magical threats around the world, and so the idea is that you need magic to fight magic. We can't allow ourselves to exclude anyone that could be useful to our cause for any reason."

That sounds pretty reasonable, and the way things should be I guess.

"Funny, I had never realized until now how similar that is to the SOS Brigade: though having magicians, aliens, clones, time travelers and espers with us make us even more of an oddity. I mean just having members of the science and magic side together is pretty rare on its own."

"Is there really that much tension between the magic and science sides?"

"It depends. There's a lot of tension between both sides and of course there been some 'clashes' between them, but the thing is that while the science side concentrates its power in Academy City, the magic side is divided among thousands of factions that might be more interested on the internal power struggle between them than in anything the science side could do."

Is Haruhi part of that power struggle? What about Sasaki? Or even me? I couldn't bring myself to ask those questions, I don't think I'd like to hear the answer and… Well it's not like Kanzaki-san it's at fault, that's just the way the world is I guess.

"Well, I believe it's time to keep searching."

She drank the last drops of tea in her bottle, tossed it into the garbage, stretched and let out a yawn. I guess the lack of sleep it's finally getting to her.

"I'd like to keep searching for at least another half an hour; if we can't find anything. I'll contact headquarters for assistance and come back tomorrow."

I got up and tossed my own bottle into the garbage.

"You can also ask Nagato for help."

"Perhaps if she's feeling well…"

"You don't like the idea?"

"It's not that… I just think that she should rest for awhile; I mean even if she says she's fine, those injuries are nothing to sneeze at."

Somehow I can't argue with that. Anyway, I went back to the machine I bought my tea earlier on, it's not everyday I get a free bottle.

"We should also report with Haruhi."

"Yeah, you're right, knowing her she's still awake trying to help… She should learn to rely on other people more often."

I checked the machine and noticed I had to place the cap in front of a camera that would read the QR code on the inside of the cap and then I'd get my free bottle.

"I mean she even calls me her big sister and everything but she's always trying to protect me and take care of things by herself. If anything the only person she relies on is…"

Suddenly a bright light appeared in front of me as I placed the cap in front of the camera; I felt the little thing slipping from my fingers as the sound of Kanzaki-san´s voice was slowly fading from my ears and being replaced with some weird Gregorian chant I hadn't heard before. The light intensified, and I felt as if the world was fading around me. When I came to, I could easily recognize I was in a completely different place.

"What the hell is going on?"

Well saying it was a completely different place was not exactly correct. It looked somewhat similar to where I was standing, but not only I was completely alone, but also there was this yellow tint that enveloped everything as far as the eye could see, which wasn't very far since there was a yellow barrier surrounding the area around the block.

Was this a closed space? I could see the similarities, but this one wasn't anything like the one I was earlier today that belonged to Sasaki. It wasn't like the ones that belonged to Haruhi either… Although on closer inspection it does kind of looked like the closed space that formed when Touma touched Haruhi, but while that one felt incomplete, this one felt… well decadent, or to be more blunt it felt like the whole place was rotting.

It wasn't because it smelled like sulfur, nor because the yellow tint gave the world somewhat of a moldy look, but rather because it simply felt that way. The buildings looked distorted and touching one of them felt like touching rotting meat, completely disgusting I might add.

"What is this? Oh my! It seems like a rat got in."

I heard the voice of an aging man behind me, but I couldn't even turn around towards it before I heard the sound of air being cut coming from the same spot. Luckily for me the reflexes I've been developing (thanks to Haruhi's training from hell) kicked in just in time to get me out of the way from a giant-guillotine-like blade that passed right where my neck used to be.

"The hell…?"

The white blade waved to my right side only to swing back towards me. I adjusted my footing and let myself fall just in time for it to graze the top of my nose and then go right into a street light, cleaving it in two as if it was nothing. It curved around in mid-air and came at me at full force aiming to slice me in half, but on an unbelievable streak of luck, the pole that damn thing just cut fell right on top of it, the sheer force of the impact making it dissolve into some sort of white powder.

"Heh! Impressive…"

I could hear the voice mocking me as I landed right on my butt. Taking only a second to regain my senses, I raised my head to look at the source of the blade that attacked me a few seconds ago. On it I could see an aging man dressed clad in green; this combined with his hair that was the same color, made him have a weird contrast with this yellow tinted world. On one hand it seemed as if he blended with the world around him but for some reason that only made him stand out a lot more.

"But your luck ends here I'm afra…"

As I was trying to divert my attention from the horrible contrast, my eyes met up with his. His face was skinny and angular that despite showing several signs of age, had somewhat of a youthful look on it.

"You're…"

As he looked at my face, I could notice his skinny face making a grin that only served to show me the shark-like teeth he had hidden inside his mouth. Just who is this weirdo, really? I don't know, but I don't want to find out. I tried to stand up ready to start an honorable tactical retreat, but…

"Precedence: Jeans – Lower, Air – Higher."

Well… How can I explain this? It felt as if my pants got stuck into the air. This phenomenon forced my lower body to halt completely, creating a whiplash like movement on my upper body. This weird momentum took me by surprise and I could do nothing but let myself fall again, hitting the pavement below me with the back of my head really strong, and I could feel my consciousness slowly slipping…

**In the living room of a certain apartment.**

Life is certainly a curious thing; no matter how powerful, how smart or beautiful you might be, you're always but one bad day away from losing everything: from seeing your dreams fade in front of your eyes and feeling your spirit crush inside of you as any will to live you might have left simply vanishes…

To the second ranked esper, that day came knocking on his door when his organization was destroyed in less than ten minutes, and even worse he was humiliated by a level 0 and left to die in a cold river.

He had never felt like that before: so helpless, so defeated, so… broken. As he laid on the riverbed, he might have even considered to let himself succumb to the cold and simply… give up.

But fate had another thing planned for him. At his darkest hour he was rescued and nursed back to health by a beautiful girl; she had taken him away from the darkness in Academy City to live far away: someplace where the god of that despicable place could never use him again, where he could recover at his leisure.

If that sounds too good to be true it's because it was. The girl he originally might have confused for a magical girlfriend just like the ones on romance stories turned out to be… well… it was her, whatever she was.

From the beginning they had certain troubles communicating, and he could say with confidence that his current lack of speech was among the lesser of them. It took him near the whole night he met her to learn her name, and he only found out about the truth behind his new situation when the man in blue and the pseudo-esper girl explained to him, as she was completely unable or unwilling to do so: he couldn't tell which.

Turns out his savior was an alien on the orders of some dominion thing that had come to earth to investigate a certain individual. She eventually met up with the pseudo-esper girl who needed an esper from Academy City to complete a group of sorts she was gathering, and since it was impossible for her to get inside the city, the responsibility fell on the alien girl who had no trouble going in or out as she pleased. She eventually picked him when she noticed him near death on the riverbed.

Why did that prompt her to ask him to be a couple and move together…? Who knows. But back then he was high on the prospect of some time off from Academy City and decided to accept. It was only later he found out just what he had gotten himself into with his new alien sweetheart.

She could spend an entire day without saying a single word and then wake up him up in the middle of the night to talk to him about how humans made great owner of cats… for two whole hours, or she could endlessly complain about having to take two trains to get to school despite willingly renting an apartment more than 50km away from it and refusing to move.

If he wanted to take her on a date she would insist on going separately to the meeting place despite them living under the same roof. Then she would do things like order an ice cream sundae and letting it melt in front of her, or watching a horror movie and burst out laughing whenever somebody got brutally killed… although he enjoyed doing that himself so he couldn't hold that against her.

It was even more awkward if he tried to get physical. Yesterday he tried kissing her and she offered no resistance but also didn't move to kiss him back and just remained still… he couldn't bring himself continue on. On that same night, she had gotten into his bed wearing nothing but a babydoll and hugged him under the covers in a way so strange that he was unsure whether to feel aroused that she might go down on him, or terrified she might murder him; she betrayed his expectations and did neither, staying like she was until he had to excuse himself and make a trip to the bathroom.

Now don't misunderstand, he liked his new life, after all he lived with her out of his own free will, and he had to admit that he enjoyed it in his own way. But regardless of her beauty or whatever positive qualities she might have, it was obvious to anyone that there was something very wrong with her.

'_RING!'_

He checked his phone and found a message from the girl with the red dress; turns out that after SCHOOL was handed over to Anti-Skill, they were let go a few days later due to lack of evidence: conveniently right after Suzumiya got out of the city.

"_We managed to locate the targets. They're on a neutral hospital on district 7. It seems one of their members got injured on a skirmish in the __juvenile hall in district 10__. We'll keep an eye on them for the time being."_

Of course to someone like Kakine Teitoku there were no such things as vacations. Even though he was currently outside the city enjoying his new life, it was only natural he would keep leading his organization from the shadows and use them to set up his eventual revenge.

Which was something that just wouldn't be possible without the help of his new sweetheart; after all, she was the one who modified his phone to be untraceable, and the one who allowed him to withdraw money from his bank accounts without being detected. How could she do those things?

Well… Who knows?

But regardless of her methods, it was pretty obvious to everyone that most things that happened on his life nowadays were directly linked with her, and he couldn't deny to have developed some form of attachment towards her… Which is why he nearly got a heart attack this afternoon, when after their reunion with the 'goddess' and her friend, she told him that her boss ordered her to talk to someone and sat unmoving on their living room… Only to literally explode nearly a few minutes later.

It was disturbing to say the least: as if her blood had boiled and burst out of her skin at the same time as she was having a convulsion that caused most her limbs to snap backwards. Of course to someone who lived in the darkness of Academy City, such kinds of displays weren't unusual, although back then they usually happened for a clear reason –which admittedly could easily be himself-.

The worst part was that after she fell on the floor, he had ran up to her and discovered not only was she still alive and without pain, but when he asked her what happened to her, she just said 'Nothing.' She responded so casually that he was tempted for a minute to believe this was how alien girls suffered 'that time of the month'.

But oh well… That was in the past now. She had closed all of her wounds and fixed her extremities over the night; then she… painted some sort of magical map (according to her at least) on a piece of paper for some reason; and now she was calmly sleeping on her bed, as if nothing had happened... something that only served as a reminder of how much he still had to learn about that alien that saved his life and now called herself his girlfriend - that lovely girl named Kuyou Suou.

' _RING!'_

He checked his cell phone again only to find that this time that it was the house phone, not his cell phone that was ringing. He picked it up on reflex only remembering a few seconds later that he was now –temporarily- mute and as such shouldn't be answering the phone.

"_It's me; I need you to help me with something."_

And to his annoyance, it was the man in blue. It wasn't like he had anything in particular against him, but there was something about the way he addressed Kuyou, as if he controlled her, that pissed him off.

It wasn't only him, the time traveling bastard had the same problem.

Not that they could control her. They would just ask her to do something and she would comply, not unlike how he could give her as many cups of coffee as he wanted to and she would drink them all if he prompted her to do it. But that didn't mean she was programmed to obey them, rather that she was willing to do so and at any time could of course refuse to if she wanted. Those guys couldn't control Kuyou and he doubted anyone in this world could.

"_What's wrong? Is anyone there?"_

But that was something to ponder later, right now he had to figure out a way to communicate over the phone; he could just wake up Kuyou up and pass her the call, but she had rough afternoon recovering from her wounds, and was enjoying some well deserved rest. He wasn't going to let anyone disturb her.

.- ... .- - / -.. - / -.- - ..- / .- .- -. - / .- ... ... ... .- - ..-..

He tapped the speaker on the phone with his finger.

"_What is this…? Morse code?"_

Bingo! Luckily he had found himself in the need to learn it during his days inside the darkness, which together with the sign language he learned over the past week, had helped him overcome his temporary lack of speech.

. -..- .- -.-. - .-.. -.- -..- / -.-. .- -. / -.- - ..- / ..- -. -.. . .-. ... - .- -. -.. / - . ..-..

_(EXACTLY, CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME?)_

"_Yes, I can understand you, now could you please put her on the phone?"_

-. - -..- / ... ... . / .. ... / ... .-.. . . .-. .. -. -. / - - / .-. . -.-. - ...- . .-. / ..-. .-. - - / ... - - . / .- - ..- -. -.. ... / ... ... . / ... ..- ..-. ..-. . .-. . -.. / - - -.. .- -.- .-.-.-

_(NO, SHE IS SLEEPING TO RECOVER FROM SOME WOUNDS SHE SUFFERED TODAY.)_

"_She was injured? How? That shouldn't be possible, unless… Did she get into a fight with the other one?"_

-. - -..- / ... ... . / .- .- ... / -.. - .. -. -. / ... - - . - ... .. -. -. / - ... . / -.. - - .. -. .. - -. / - .-. -.. . .-. . -.. / ... . .-. / - - / -.. - / .- -. -.. / ... ... . / . -..- .-. .-.. - -.. . -.. .-.-.- / ... ... . / .. ... / ..-. .. -. . / -. - .- -..- / -... ..- - / .. / .- - / -. - - / -. - .. -. -. / - - / -.. .. ... - ..- .-. -... / ... . .-. / ... .-.. . . .-.

_(NO, SHE WAS DOING SOMETHING THE DOMINION ORDERED HER TO DO AND SHE EXPLODED. SHE IS FINE NOW, BUT I AM NOT GOING TO DISTURB HER SLEEP.)_

"_What? Never mind, I'll call again tomorrow, I wanted to ask her about some strange magical phenomenon I noticed, but I guess that going to have to wait."_

Magical phenomenon? Funny. You'd think that to someone like Kakine Teitoku, who grew up in the darkness of the most scientifically advanced city in the planet, things like magic would be nothing but a fantasy, but he had seen so many things ever since he fell into that river that now he couldn't help but to concede that there was still a lot he didn't understand about this world.

_.-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.- ..-.. / -... . -.-. .- ..- ... . / - ... . -. / .. / - ... .. -. -.- / .. / ... .- ...- . / ... - - . - ... .. -. -. / - ... .- - / - .. -. ... - / .. -. - . .-. . ... - / -.- - ..- .-.-.-_

_(REALLY? BECAUSE THEN I THINK I HAVE SOMETHING THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU.)_

"_What do you mean? What could a child of science know about magic?"_

That little piece of… Anyway, no need to take it as an insult. If the situation were to reverse itself, he'd do the same thing; all he needed to do was shut that arrogant mouth of his, and looking at the piece of paper sitting on his desk. He knew exactly what he had to do to accomplish that.

_... . .-. .. - ..- ... .-.. -.- / .- ... ... ... .- - -..- / .- ..- ... - / - .-. ..- ... - / - . / - -.- .-.-.-_

_(SERIOUSLY, JUST TRUST ME OK.)_

**Inside the yellow tinted "Closed Space".**

As my consciousness slowly came back to me, I reluctantly opened my eyes to find myself chained by my arms and legs to a wall.

"What the…?"

I tried wrestling against the chain but I couldn't get free. Despite felling like I had a rotten sack of meat on my back, the wall wasn't brittle enough for me to pull out the chains.

"Futile! It might not be at its best condition, but this world is not as weak as to break with just brute force."

Huh? I instantly noticed the old man in green coming into my field of vision; he got closer to me while still keeping himself at a safe distance.

"Who are you?"

The old man let out a chuckle as an arrogant smirk formed in his face.

"How rude! You come into my world uninvited and then demand to know my name without giving yours first, kids these days…"

He shook his head slightly while pretending to feel insulted, but you could see the amusement on his face.

"Oh sorry, I forgot my manners, my name is…"

"You're the one the fake goddesses calls Kyon, right?"

How come everybody knows who I am nowadays? I mean, at the very least they could learn my real name instead of that stupid nickname.

"Oh come on, don't look at me like that… You're famous you know? Some even say you're the man who's closest to God, a bold claim and an impressive title, were it only the truth."

He took a good look at my face before sighing.

"But I must admit that even with that in mind, I expected something more grandiose out this meeting, I feel disappointed."

Well sorry, you can write a complaint letter if you want, I'll read it when I have the time.

"I'm called Terra of the Left, a pleasure to meet you Mr. Kyon."

Wish I could say that I feel the same, but I would be lying.

"Now putting those pesky formalities aside, mind if I ask what are you doing inside my world?"

"Your world?"

Suddenly a somewhat sincere smile appeared upon the old man's face, as he spoke with a voice full of pride and confidence, totally unlike the politeness he's been faking until now.

"Yes, do you like it? I made it with my magic using the data I got from investigating that which you call 'Closed Spaces' and the 'Data Jurisdiction' those homunculus use. It's not perfect, but I believe it's good enough for my purposes."

Well sure… I mean if you can stand the stench of sulfur, don't mind that buildings feel like meat way past its expiration date and you like to see everything through a piss filter, then by all means it's good enough.

"But anyway, that doesn't matter… I believe you haven't answered my question, to what do I owe the honor of your visit Mr. Kyon?"

I don't really want to tell this guy the truth, but it's not like I have much choice. For the time being I'll try to stall for as much time as possible until I find a way to escape.

"That's a good question, I don't know that myself… I was just scanning the QR code in my cap on a vending machine to get a free bottle of tea and somehow I ended up here."

Upon hearing that, the old man's face changed to a frown that let me know that he wasn't amused by my answer.

"Do you really expect me to believe that? That 'coincidentally' the code for a free bottle of tea is the same I use to get inside this place?"

Why not? There's approximately a probability of one in… 10^7,089 of that happening, which is more than the estimated number of atoms in the universe by the way… Kanzaki-san is right, luck based contests suck!

"Tell me the truth! Did those Anglican idiots found out about my plan? Did they think that sending someone favored by the anomaly would stop me? That she could protect you in my world?"

He started laughing like a madman, eerily similar to the laugh you'd expect from an evil clown that loves to torment bat themed superheroes.

"What a shame… You're the most unfortunate person on the whole planet you know?"

Well I've seen some signs here and there, but I think there're people that have it way worse than me.

"Unfortunately for you, this world is sealed away from the influence of that anomaly, she can't help you here."

"What does that mean?"

Suddenly, the old man named Terra raised one of his eyebrows, as if he wasn't expecting that question.

"You mean you haven't noticed?"

He let out a sigh, and then he made a face that made me think I got the old man to lower his guard a little, now if only I could do anything to capitalize on that.

"Mr. Kyon, did you know that a little less than three months ago the world was in the brink of a conflict that would've enveloped every country on the planet in the struggle between science and magic?"

No, but I suppose I don't watch the news as much as I should.

"Of course you don't! But it is true that at the end of September, something was supposed to happen that was to be the spark to start the flames of war between our Roman Catholic Church and Academy City."

So I'm presuming this guy is from the Roman Catholic Church then, good to know.

"But it wasn't meant to be… You know why? Because just as it was about to start, a little bird came to us with information about that anomaly you call Suzumiya Haruhi. Can you believe that? A girl who didn't know she had the powers of a god! Of course with this sudden discovery, our plans to bring about a new age of enlightenment upon the world had to be postponed for the time being."

What a coincidence.

"And to make things worse, just as we were investigating her, another little bird appeared and told us about the so called 'true owner' of those powers, an annoying little esper girl you might know… "

I think I have an idea who that might be.

"She managed to convince the leader behind our church to support the 'true owner' of those powers and help recover them from the anomaly that stole them; she even got one member of God's Right Seat to join her little group."

Funny, I don't even know what God's Right Seat is, but thanks to this guy now I know that Vento girl from this morning is part of it.

"Anyway, I'm getting side tracked… The point I was trying to make is: don't you think this is a little too convenient? That just when war is about to ignite, every single faction involved gets sucked into the conflict surrounding that little 'goddess' of yours?"

No, I don't think I'm following you.

"Really? No offence, but are you seriously that dumb? Of course your little 'goddess' was aware of the conflict and she decided that revealing herself was the only way to prevent it!"

What? But that makes no…

"Of course, I'm not saying she is conscious about everything; rather her subconscious, the part of her that uses her powers, does know about anything that happens in the world, and she's not stupid! She knows there's darkness in the world that struggles to hide from her sight!"

Well, now that I think about it, back when we were in Academy City, she did say she knew there was something unpleasant hidden below the surface, I guess Haruhi is not naïve enough to believe that there's no suffering in the world, rather she knows that there is, but that it is unfortunately an inevitable part of life.

"But a huge war that would dwarf any other in history is different, with the advanced technology in Academy City and the unlimited strength of magic, casualties might have been in the billions! And of course, your 'goddess' would never accept such a thing, so subconsciously she orchestrated a series of events that would stop it."

"That's a good idea for a story, why don't you write a book about it? I'd read it."

"You don't believe me? Then may I ask if you don't you think the power struggle surrounding your "goddess" is a little… weird? I mean around her there are dozens of different factions that can't even agree over how to refer to her, but they don't fight or even quarrel for control over her."

Sure, I mean if you don't count Asakura Ryoko trying to kill me, or that cave cricket, or ITEM, etc. No fights at all.

"Of course thanks to the sudden inclusion of Academy City and the discrepancy created by the existence of the 'true owner' of those powers, a few little brawls broke out, nothing serious and without even one casualty… a lot better than total war, don't you think? "

I can agree with that I guess.

"You see? With her powers there's no force on earth whether be science or magic that can touch her, as long as we are on her world at least."

The old man stopped talking for a second, letting an eerie silence take over for a while before he resumed his rant.

"Which is why I created this space she can't touch. Once I figure out how to transfer those powers, I'll use a transportation spell to bring her here and then take them for myself."

"What? You're going to… I thought the Roman Catholic Church was trying to give those powers to Sasaki."

A huge grin appeared on the old man's face when he saw the –perfectly justified– surprise on mine.

"Yes, that's what my colleagues want, but… Why should we move those divine powers from a pagan girl into yet another pagan girl? It makes no sense! They deserve to be with someone more righteous, someone who can bring upon the age of enlightenment upon humanity."

"Let me guess, that someone would be… You?"

"Of course, since I seem to be the only one in God's Right Seat that's thinking straight about this issue, I have no choice but to take matters into my hands."

You know, with all the stuff this morning over whether Haruhi or Sasaki should be the one to have the power to alter reality, I think it's pretty clear that either of them is a way better alternative than this guy.

"Do not worry though, once I have the divine powers, I won't harm your little girlfriend any further, she'll be free to convert and join the rest of humanity in the age of enlightenment."

I don't think I want to know what happens if she refuses.

"I was planning on giving you the same choice; unfortunately since you found this place I'm afraid that's not an option anymore."

He made a gesture with his arms and brought his giant guillotine like blade dangerously close to my neck.

"Any last requests Mr. Kyon?"

Funny, I know I should be more scared right now, but I have a feeling everything it's going to be all right.

"Actually, I do have a question… No, make that two if I may."

He let out a sigh.

"What would those be?"

"First, I wanted to ask about that ability of yours, you know the one you used to stop me from moving in mid-air, it's been bothering me for a while."

Now his expression changed back to a smile, one that if I'm right he won't be able to hold much longer.

"A wonderful ability don't you think? It's the result of my research of the crucifixion of the 'Son of God', are you familiar with that story Mr. Kyon?"

I've heard about it before.

"When you calmly think about it, it makes no sense a normal human would be able to harm the 'Son of God', that would be unthinkable even for me."

He took a second to consider a few things and then kept talking.

"According to certain scriptures, the order of precedence of certain things is changed to allow certain events to happen. For instance in order for the 'Son of God' to take humanity's original sin, the natural precedence had to change so that he could be killed by a mere human."

Then he grinned at me again.

"For that to occur, a spell had to be used to allow the alteration of the order of precedence; the very same spell I use, the 'Execution of Light'. The ability to manipulate and control this blade of mine by using flour is a byproduct of that."

Flour? I guess that was the white powder I saw when the blade shattered, and I suppose that when he gave precedence to air over my jeans, it made them unable to displace the air around them and thus get stuck, I get it!

"Do you understand now?"

"Yes, thank you."

He nodded at me with a smile and then frowned.

"And your second question?"

"Yeah… I wanted to ask if you know anything about the nuns from a nearby Catholic church passing out this afternoon."

"You mean the traitors? I'm afraid I can't say I know anything about that. Although Vento did report earlier that Divine Punishment had descended upon several sinners, so maybe it was them."

Bingo! Thanks a lot old man.

"Well then Mr. Kyon, I'm afraid your time has…"

But just as he was speaking, several steel wires appeared around his mouth and quickly dug themselves right into the middle of his mouth.

"Precedence: Metal – Lower, Skin – Higher."

He managed to spit out his spell before his head was split in two, but it was too late; there was a deep wound circling around his head that must have made muttering those lines extremely painful.

"What the… gargh!"

To make matter worse for the poor old man, a giant scabbard hit him right on the back of his neck smashing his head against the wall with tremendous strength.

"Nanasen!"

Then the steel wires reappeared and quickly cut through the wall and the chains holding me, I fell to the floor quite clumsily, but I managed to regain my footing quickly enough to run towards my savior before the old man had enough time to react.

"Kanzaki-san!"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, thank you!"

"No problem, we'll talk later…"

She said just as she pushed me out of the way of a huge white guillotine-like blade that passed right between us, and then Kanzaki-san sprinted towards the old man at lightning speed, but even though he seemed to be near passing out from his injuries, the old man managed to mutter:

"Precedence: Jeans–Lower, Air–Higher."

And just like that, Kanzaki-san's dash was stopped in mid air; however unlike me, she recovered her composure near instantly; and used the momentum she still had on her upper body to swing her huge nodachi at the old man and chanting a spell of her own.

"Seven Blades of the Seven Teachings!"

Which caused the wires around her sword to launch themselves at the old man, he seemed to want to use his guillotine to protect himself, but due to the way the seven wires moved it was quickly made obvious that he couldn't deflect all of them.

"Precedence: Wires–Lower, Human Flesh–Higher."

This caused the wires to slide off his skin as if it was made out of steel, but also seemed to have the side effect of freeing Kanzaki-san, who wasted no time in dashing towards the old man again. He tried to use his blade to stop her, but it was too late; she had gotten close enough to hit him on the arm with her sword, which while didn't seem to cut him for some reason, did made his arm stop moving, and with it stopping the blade as well.

"I got you!"

Immediately she redirected the path of her sword towards the old man's neck, who in a desperate attempt to save his life managed to mutter a spell in what must have been horrible pain.

"Precedence: Steel–Lower, Human Flesh–Higher."

This made Kanzaki-san´s blade bounce of his skin, but that was no surprise to her since she had let go of the sword mid-swing and instead used her right fist to slam shut the old man's jaw with an uppercut.

"Prece…"

The old man could barely whisper before receiving a roundhouse kick right on the side of his face, the force resulting from it smashing his head once again into the wall… Then he slid down until he reached the floor as he slowly closed his eyes.

"Kanzaki-san."

I got closer to her since danger seemed to be over; she was picking up her nodachi and its scabbard and keeping an eye on the man in green.

"Is he…?"

I swallowed a little before making that question, and only after I saw the expression on Kanzaki-san's face I regretted ever asking that… On the surface, she might've appeared serious as usual, but there was some coldness on her eyes that made her seem unapproachable, as if standing before me was a completely different person.

"I think so…"

"Gargh…!"

Suddenly the old man behind us opened his mouth to vomit some blood; he didn't seem to do it consciously but rather as a natural consequence of the brutal beating he just received. Luckily for him, his mouth was facing downwards, or else he might have drowned on his own blood.

"He seems to be breathing at least."

Then a bright light enveloped us as I could feel the world around us disappearing, and when I came to, we were standing on what appeared to be the equivalent place in the real world of where we were standing on the yellow tinted "Closed Space". Apparently it ceased to be when the old man fell unconscious.

"Well that solves the problem of how to get out of there."

I could hear Kanzaki-san saying something, then she turned around to face me and I could notice her expression had gone back to the Kanzaki-san I knew.

"Thank you Kyon-san. If you hadn't distracted him and made him explain his spell when I was setting up my ambush, I'm not sure I could've beat him so easily."

"Yeah, I noticed a light coming from the location of the vending machine while we were talking, and I figured out it was you. I assumed that if you were listening I should warn you about his abilities and try to give you an opening."

"Indeed, that was good thinking; I was able to injure him before he could react and mess up his rhythm, and I was also able to confirm that he could only use his Execution of Light on only one thing at a time."

I assume that it's why she threw her scabbard at him, that thing is made out of wood after all.

"Sorry it took me so long to help you though. I had some trouble figuring out what happened to you and then getting back the cap below the machine."

As she said that, I could notice her white T-shirt was a little dirty, and so was her exposed knee.

"Never mind that Kanzaki-san, it doesn't matter."

Suddenly her expression became a little more serious, not as much as when she was fighting but notably more than before.

"Kyon-san, about what that man said… I could only hear a little of his speech, but who was he and what exactly was that place?"

"I'm not really sure about the details myself, apparently he wanted to transfer Haruhi's power onto himself to bring upon an age of enlightenment or some crap into the world, so he created that space free of her influence to be able to steal them."

"And what about Sasaki-san? I could hear you mentioning her."

So she heard that part too.

"That's… Well it has to do with what happened this morning when I met with her… it's complicated you see…"

But before I could explain myself to her, there was a small explosion where the old man was, so loud that I think my hearing went out for a second, and thanks to the shockwave, I nearly fell to the floor.

"Who are you?"

As my hearing returned and the dust settled, I could see Kanzaki-san standing to my side, her blade unsheathed again and pointing at a large man in blue that was standing in front of us, casually holding the old man on his shoulders as if he was weightless.

"Put down your sword, I'm not here to fight."

He said it more like an order than a request, Kanzaki-san kept her guard up though, and since he raised his head to speak I could see the man's face clearly.

"Mr. Orwell?"

He was the client I was talking to right before the restaurant closed the other day, but he looked different, back then he seemed like a relaxed and polite person, but today I felt that if I made the wrong move he could snap my neck without hesitation.

"Nice to see you young man, I regret that we had to meet again under this circumstances, but there was no choice."

Kanzaki-san didn't even flinch at our exchange, keeping her blade pointed at Mr. Orwell, ready to jump on him if she had to.

"Are you with the Roman Catholic Church?"

He nodded.

"That is correct; I'm a part of what is known as God's Right seat."

God's Right seat? Just like that old man Terra, and that Vento girl from this morning…

"So is this person on my shoulder…"

He shook his shoulder to make the old man on it jump up and down.

"Sorry I was nearby investigating some matters and I couldn't help but to notice both of you appearing on the middle of the street, and I also overheard your conversation, about how Terra tried to steal the divine powers for himself."

He chuckled a little and then relaxed his body, not as if he expected us to do the same, but more as if he didn't care if we did.

"I already suspected him of doing some rotten things back on the Vatican, so that comes as no surprise to me."

He turned towards Kanzaki-san.

"You're a member of the Church of Necessarius aren't you?"

"What if I am?"

He chuckled again.

"I'm not sure of what happened, but if what you're saying is indeed the truth then I apologize on behalf of my church."

Yeah, don't worry, I mean he only tried to kill me and steal Haruhi's power to shape the world in his own image; that happens every two Sundays around here...

"Also I hope you understand that I will be taking him to face our justice, I presume you have no objections to this."

Kanzaki-san seemed to be about to say something, but the Mr. Orwell just kept talking.

"And as a sign of goodwill between our Churches, I'll ask Vento to release those receiving Divine Punishment for their sins, they should awaken shortly."

Then I was the one about to say something, but once again he ignored that and kept talking.

"Be aware though, this will only happen once. Next time someone from your organization threatens the true owner of the Divine Powers, there will be no compromise."

And with those words, the gears on my head finally reached the answer to this mess. Everything made sense now: the nuns trying to cast a spell to pinpoint magical sources passing out, the spell that can make people faint just feeling ill will towards someone, the location of the dots in the map Nagato made, even the crucifix Sasaki had.

"So it is true, you gave the core of Divine Punishment to Sasaki!"

For the first time ever since he arrived, Kanzaki-san took her eyes off the man in blue in front of her and moved them towards me, she didn't say anything though, unlike Mr. Orwell who didn't even flinch at my question.

"You're a smart boy… Yes that is correct; Sasaki-sama does carry the cross of Divine Punishment on her. "

It was so obvious now, suddenly everything made sense and I could finally say I solved the mystery of what happened this afternoon.

"Unlike Suzumiya Haruhi, Sasaki-sama doesn't possess the power to defend herself from the dangers that might threaten her, so we had to protect her anyway we could, judging from the number of people Vento told me got caught in the spell today… We made the right choice."

"Those nuns were trying to trace magical sources and the only reason they found out about her is because you gave that dangerous thing to Sasaki on the first place!"

I snapped at him, it was the truth but still he seemed unfazed with what I said.

"Perhaps… But how much longer would've secrecy kept her safe? And once she is discovered what do you think would happen to her? Listen, I'm not sure of what happened between you and Terra, but I can easily see you don't trust the Roman Catholic Church, not a bad policy per se…"

He glanced at Kanzaki-san for a second.

"But I would advise you to be careful, you might trust that woman, but the church behind her is hardly better than ours."

He made a small nod towards me.

"Anyway, I'm afraid I must leave now, hopefully next time we can meet on better terms."

Then another explosion occurred, and when the dust cleared off he wasn't there anymore.

"Kyon-san…"

I felt Kanzaki-san approaching me from the side.

"Kyon-san!"

She shook my shoulder and I finally reacted to her words.

"Sorry…"

"Listen, those explosions must have caused quite a commotion, luckily we didn't have to deal with onlookers, but someone must have heard the noise and called the police, we need to leave now!"

Suddenly she got closer to me and picked me up off the ground again.

"I'll take you home, and then… You'll have to explain a few things."

I could barely nod at her words before we took off into the sky.

**The Holy Church of Suzumiya Haruhi.**

It happened every now and then; she dreamt of her times as a dirty orphan, cold and starving on the streets of Milan, begging to anyone who would listen for money or looking in the garbage for something to eat, not a pleasant dream to have, rather one that would cause anyone to wake up immediately… Not this time though.

It was weird, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't wake up. It was as if someone was holding her head inside cold water, forcing her to drown on her memories while she desperately tried to breathe, Well… saying "desperate" might be an exaggeration; they were sad memories of course, but she would always acknowledge them as a part of her. She had learned to take the good with the bad and accept everything that made her who she was today.

"_Wake up!"_

Suddenly the dream ended. She felt the warmth of a blanket over her body, the hardness of the floor below it, a light headache for sleeping too much, but more important that everything else was the pleasant sensation of some wiping the sweat of her brow.

She slowly opened her eyes as she let out a light yawn, carefully inspecting the hands holding a handkerchief over her forehead and following them until reaching their owner: the girl who was said to be a goddess, the one she was supposed to protect.

"You are…"

"Ah! You're awake."

The "goddess" took her hands off her forehead and smiled to her.

"Finally! I was worried since everyone else woke up a while back but you just kept sleeping."

"Huh!"

The nun tried to sit, only succeeding because the "goddess" helped her, then she took a second to try and acknowledge what was going on around her.

"What happened here?"

The last thing she remembered was casting the spell to trace magical sources and then… then… What happened then? She couldn't remember; but now she was on the middle of the main hall, surrounded by literally more than a hundred futons that were in the process of being picked up by her sisters.

"It's a long story; basically you girls passed out altogether at the same time."

"I… I see…"

She tried her best to calm herself, after all she in front of the "goddess" herself, so she absolutely needed to keep her cool, otherwise she might jeopardize her entire mission.

"Listen Miss…?"

After a brief meditation she decided the best course of action would be to feign ignorance, not a bad plan at least.

"I'm Suzumiya Haruhi, nice to meet you."

She nodded at her words and introduced herself.

"My name is Agnese Sanctis, it's a pleasure Suzumiya-san, but, and I don't mean to sound rude, what are you doing here?"

The "goddess" just smiled to her. Agnese couldn't help but to notice how despite looking quite worn out, there were no signs of tiredness on her face, and that there was a certain warmth coming from her smiling face that she couldn't quite place.

"That little child over there came to us on the street and asked us to help us when nearly her entire family passed out, I just couldn't say no."

She pointed at one of her sisters, the nun known as Angelene, who was fast asleep on the lap of a girl she recognized as the one that came with Kanzaki last Monday.

"I see… I'm not really sure what happened here… But I feel like I must thank you Suzumiya-san."

The girl just chuckled a little.

"Don't mention it; it's our duty to help people in trouble."

"Still I really feel I must thank you and…"

'_God knows'_

Suddenly she heard a sound coming from the "goddess" pocket, she picked up her phone and then excused herself to attend the call.

"Hello."

…

"Ah! Kaori-neesan? What happened?"

…

"Oh I see… You're going home, how is Yuki? Kyon told me she was ill."

…

"That's great to know!"

…

"Yes, everyone is awake now! The last one literally woke up a minute ago!"

…

"Ok, ok… I'll ask Orsola-san for a room, I suppose I can go home real quick tomorrow… What about Kyon, where is he?"

…

"Perfect, ok then Kaori-neesan…"

…

"Sister Agnese, yeah she's here. Want me to put her on?"

…

"Ok, I'll tell her."

The girl hung up her phone and turned back to the nun who was now trying to stand up.

"Kaori-neesan says she'll pass by tomorrow on her way to school."

"Huh! Kanzaki Kaori? I see…"

Then the "goddess" came close to her, her face having an expression similar to a mother about to have a harsh talk with her child.

"By the way Agnese-san, I need to talk to you…"

"Ehh… What's wrong Suzumiya-san?"

"I was told you are the one in charge here."

"Y… Yes, I'm the mother superior in charge of this place."

For some reason Agnese got really nervous, not only because she was speaking to the "goddess" herself, but also because for some reason she felt as if she was about to be scolded…


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23:**

"Rise and shine Kyon. Rise and shine!"

Huh? I woke up to the most ominous words anyone could hear while sleeping only to find none other than Suzumiya Haruhi staring at me. So radiant and full of energy you might find it hard to believe she spent the previous night carrying nuns on a church... Granted her iconic ribbon did seem a little neglected today.

"Finally! I was starting to believe you'd never wake up…"

Then she gave a little sigh.

"At least you weren't doing anything weird this time."

Not at all: after helping more than 200 unconscious nuns, finding Nagato bathed in blood, nearly getting killed by a psycho in green, and being interrogated by Kanzaki-san among several other things that happened yesterday. I was so exhausted my sleep was pretty much dreamless.

"Haruhi… We were up till like 3:00 am last night, can't we skip training at least once? It's freezing out there."

She looked at me with her typical annoyed expression.

"Really Kyon? Do you really think I'm so inconsiderate?"

Maybe…

"I can't believe it! And to think I took the trouble to come here after going back home from the church, just because I knew you'd be late for school unless I woke you up… You should be thankful!"

Taking some time to stretch myself and acknowledge my surroundings, I could notice that it was considerably brighter than it should be at 4:00 am. I guess I must have slept through my alarm.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it… Now get ready or we'll be late!"

Although checking my cell phone, I can see there's still enough time to get to school comfortably. Not it mattered to our dear leader over here.

"Move it!"

"Ok… ok, just let me get my stuff… "

I got up to get my clothes as Haruhi left the room to give me a little privacy.

...

"Are you done Kyon?"

I opened the door already dressed up in my uniform, and an extra coat; although the sight of it didn't seem to impress the girl on the other side.

"Seriously Kyon, you're a mess..."

She got closer to me, undid the sloppy knot I made on my tie, and then quickly made a simple but elegant Windsor knot to replace it.

"There… Perfect!"

She admired her creation for a moment and then gave me an annoyed look.

"Kyon, you have to take better care of your personal image, or you'll give people a bad impression of the brigade."

"Understood! Although in that case I think you should take a look at the mess you have on your head."

"What?"

She pushed me aside and got into my room to look at herself in the mirror; there she could see how the yellow strap was completely off, and even seemed about to fall off.

"What a pain… You should've told me before; I could've fixed it while you changed."

Uncharacteristically she didn't seem angry, or even upset. Her tone was more of a _'How could I be so careless?'_ that I don't recall ever hearing from her before.

"Sorry."

"It doesn't matter… Crap!"

That little exclamation was because as she was trying to fix the ribbon, the little strap slipped out of her hands, and fell into the abyss that exists under my bed. For a second she seemed to consider looking for it, but decided against it in the end.

"Can't help it I guess…"

She pulled yet another ribbon from her pocket and tied up beautifully on the first try, so fast and perfect I couldn't help but being impressed.

"That'll do... Let's go Kyon!"

Then before I had time to say a single word she grabbed me by the arm, and pushed me out of the room.

**The Holy Church of Suzumiya Haruhi.**

"I can't believe this… Are you sure about this information Kanzaki?"

Currently, the nun known as Agnese Sanctis was in her office receiving a visit from the Saint of the Amakusa Church. She had come as promised to give her report of what happened last night.

"That's what he told me, and judging from our meeting with that man in blue it seems the Roman Catholics thinks is the truth."

Agnese took some time to consider this information. This was a delicate matter, and it had to be treated with utmost care.

"And what about you?"

"I'm not sure… At the very least I can tell you they share a similar aura. I honestly can't put in into words, but I can feel they're similar beings."

Agnese could easily see that Kanzaki was not lying: confused, and full of doubts perhaps… but she was definitely telling the truth.

"But how can that be? How can two people with the power to manipulate reality exist at the same time? It makes no sense!"

"That is because they don't. According to him at least, she doesn't possess the same powers; but she's capable of wielding them, and there seems to be a few factions that think she did so in the past."

Agnese gave her a worried look.

"And the Roman Catholic Church is one of them."

"Correct."

After those words, silence reigned in the room for what it seemed to be an eternity.

"How many people know about this? Inside the church of Necessariuss I mean."

"As far as I know: only you, and me. I suppose the Archbishop must suspect something since I called her last Monday, and made her a few questions about the situation."

"I see, you should report to her about what we know now."

"Indeed. She's not stupid, but if she handles this matter carelessly it might mean a repeat of last night."

"Be aware she'll probably order to keep this top secret."

"Of course! I didn't tell Orsola, or anyone else for that reason."

Agnese nodded at Kanzaki's words.

"Thank you. I'll take care of any suspicion her, or the force might raise… I hate having to keep the truth from them, but it is for the best."

After all it was unreasonable to ask everyone to completely restrain her emotions, and if even one of them slipped up, it might trigger a chain reaction among the entire church. They just couldn't afford to take that risk.

"Agreed, we need to be careful about this."

Agnese turned around to look through the window at the backyard, where several of her sisters were merrily going about their business.

"I suppose I'll tell them it was an attack from the Roman Catholic Church. If you think about it, it is technically what happened."

"You could see it that way."

She sighed, and looked away from the window.

"I still can't believe what happened yesterday, and to think I was so happy when everyone wanted to be together in our "moment of triumph". What a wonderful mother superior I turned out to be."

"Don't blame yourself. Nobody could've predicted something like that would happen, it was just an unfortunate coincidence."

Agnese let out a little chuckle.

"And what kind of coincidence, the whole thing is so contrived I have trouble believing it…"

"I can relate to that."

Then the nun took seat on her chair.

"Let's go over it one more time, just to make sure I got everything."

Kanzaki nodded.

"Sure."

"Ok… According to you what happened was this: the Roman Catholics gave this girl the core of a spell that can make anyone pass out from oxygen deprivation just by felling ill will towards her."

"That's true, that man in blue confirmed it."

"Yesterday this girl met up with the one closest to Suzumiya-sama. They were together until around the same time we began to cast our spell, when he left her at the train station."

"Not only him: apparently he coincidentally met with Haruhi-san when he parted ways with her, so she can confirm this part."

"I see… Anyway, then we casted our spell, and picked up the core she was carrying as a magical source. Since it was the first one that appeared, we immediately assumed it was our enemy, and thus felt ill will towards her. Is this correct?"

"You tell me."

Agnese took some time to think. Her memory from right before she passed out was hazy, but she could vaguely remember seeing a magical source near that location before losing consciousness.

"At the same time, the homunculus from outer space was communicating with an unknown entity, and got caught in our spell by mistake."

"Getting horribly wounded in the process."

"But before that, she drew this map; that you used to track this Terra person who was trying to steal Suzumiya-sama's power. After you defeated him, another person from the Roman Catholic Church appeared."

"Yeah, that would be the man in blue. I believe he introduced to Kyon-san before as William Orwel."

"And he told you that this Terra person was a traitor to the Roman Catholics, and offered to let us wake up as a sign of good will."

"Yeah, in short that's what happened."

Agnese sighed, to be honest saying it out loud only made everything sound even more convoluted and unbelievable.

"What about whoever the homunculus was trying to communicate with? Have you found anything about it?"

"Unfortunately no, I was talking to Kyon-san about that, and we both agreed that chances are that person was outside the range of the spell."

"That makes sense… By the way, how is he taking it?"

For a second Kanzaki looked confused. It was obvious she wasn't expecting that question.

"How is he taking it?"

"Yeah, for what you told me not only he nearly got killed yesterday, but he also got a glimpse of how messed up the magic side can be. To someone who's not used to this kind of stuff it must have affected him somehow."

"He took it… Better than most people."

"I see."

"And what about the Agnese Force? Are you girls Ok?"

Agnese gave herself a confident smile.

"We're fine. Nobody seems to be ill, or suffering from side effects."

"I was thinking more about your morale."

Agnese chuckled and smiled. She knew the answer to that question would be something Kanzaki would never expect.

"Our morale is great, better than ever if I do say so myself."

But unlike she predicted, Kanzaki just nodded with a smile.

"Let me guess… Haruhi-san."

"You know ever since we were given this mission there were lots of doubts and uncertainty surrounding it; I was never given any formal complains, but I knew some of us were really unhappy with it. I even heard a few mumblings that the position regarding Suzumiya-sama of the church was heresy, and that we should take no part in it."

"But you still took it."

"Don't get me wrong, I had my doubts as well, and I bet you did too."

"Yes, to a certain degree I still have them."

"But regardless of what we believe. Protecting her is our mission, and just like you I am going to do my job properly."

Kanzaki just nodded at her.

"Not that our previous doubts matter anymore though. It's still too early to tell of course, but ever since this morning all you can hear around the church are stories about how Suzumiya-sama saved us. Sister Angelene in particular is borderline preaching about how she was the one who helped her when nobody else would."

Kanzaki let out a small, nearly inaudible chuckle.

"She didn't exactly save you."

"But Sister Angelene asking for her help did trigger a series of events that eventually did. So while she might have not saved us herself, it is thanks to her we were able to wake up… Not to take credit away from you or the rest of the brigade of course."

Both girls let out smiled to each other before continuing with their talk.

"And what about you Agnese Sanctis? What is your opinion now?"

That was the question Agnese had been doing to herself ever since she woke up.

"I'm not entirely sure. Objectively nothing she did suggest she's anything more than your average Japanese schoolgirl, but..."

There was something else, that image Agnese saw when she woke up, the one of Suzumiya-sama wiping the sweat of her brow, and smiling at her as she imagined her own mother used to do. It made her feel as if that girl was way more than she appeared at first glance. She would never tell Kanzaki or anyone else for that matter, but that image would stay with her for the rest of her life.

"Look, what I think doesn't really matter. Suzumiya-sama is a good person, and regardless of whether or not she's God, she just doesn't deserve to be dragged into the darkness of this world."

Kanzaki gave her another nod.

"That's all I wanted to hear."

"Granted, I would've preferred if she hadn't scolded me."

Before getting horribly confused.

"She… scolded you?"

The nun took a long breath before explaining herself.

"After I woke up she told me I shouldn't have locked so many people inside a place without any kind of ventilation, and that I was lucky no one got hurt."

The Amakusa saint let out a chuckle.

"Sounds like her. How did you excuse yourself?"

Agnese cleared up her throat.

"I told her we had troubles with our budget, and we couldn't afford to turn up the heating."

It was technically the truth after all.

"And what did she say?"

"She told me to not be stupid, that the lives of my sisters mattered more than money… Then she told me she could hook us up with a few part-time jobs her brigade had in the past."

Kanzaki could only imagine what those would be. At the very least she was sure next time the brigade went to the family restaurant, she might see a few familiar faces on the staff.

"I see… Well I'm afraid I must leave now, school will start in a few minutes."

The saint stood up ready to leave, but the nun stopped her before she could exit the room.

"Wait! There's something I think you should see before you leave."

Kanzaki stopped right where she was and turned around.

"What could it be?"

"Follow me."

Agnese took her to a small room right next to her office, there she seemed to chant something, got closer to the back of the room and pressed her hand into the wall.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't answer, but rather just kept pressing her hand which sank into the wall as if it wasn't there. Kanzaki could hear the sound of a switch being pressed, and then she saw how the walls of the room disappeared around them, revealing it was several times the size it appeared at first glance.

"Is that…?"

And in the middle of it, there was a miniature model of the entire area made of magical energy, so detailed you could see inside the buildings, and even little people walking on the streets.

"That's correct. I was afraid we had been unsuccessful in our casting, but it wasn't the case."

Kanzaki got closer to it, quickly examining it she found the church she was in; there she could see a bright light that indicated a magical source was inside.

"But how? I didn't see it yesterday, and Orsola told me she hadn't either."

"The spell was made so that once completed; a few secondary spells would activate automatically, and transport it here."

"You are really lucky you know. If Haruhi-san had seen this yesterday…"

"I rather not think about that."

The saint kept looking at the spell, trying to find the little dot that caused so much trouble yesterday.

"There she is! This must be Sasaki-san, it's near the school Kyon-san told me she attended."

Agnese nodded.

"Most likely. I haven't configured this thing yet, so I was thinking in filtering her out of our tracking."

Kanzaki got herself away from the spell, and faced Agnese.

"That would be for the best."

"Yeah, as long as she carries the core with her, it's really dangerous for our monitoring team."

"It's not just that."

Agnese looked at Kanzaki with confusion on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, I know you might have a different perspective on this matter, but I promised Kyon-san that under any circumstance we would not harm Sasaki-san."

"Not that we can right now."

"That doesn't' matter. If you think about it she's just another victim of the power struggle in the magic side, so we mustn't drag her into this."

"Are those your words? Or his?"

"That doesn't matter. It is the only condition he made to cooperate with us, and you should know better than everyone that we cannot afford to not have him in our side."

Despite what it might seem, there was no malice in the words these two were exchanging. Rather they were cold, and calculating, as if they were deliberately fishing for a reaction to tell what the other one was thinking.

"I understand."

After a short stare, Agnese was the first to stand down. She knew what Kanzaki was saying was technically correct, even if she suspected the saint had other reasons to accept said conditions.

"Either way, once we inform the Archbishop, she'll be the one to decide our course of action."

The Amakusa nodded at the nun's words.

"Indeed. Now if this was all you needed, I'm afraid I must go to school."

Kanzaki tried to excuse herself one more time, but once again Agnese stopped her.

"Actually, there is something else."

"What could it be?"

"Please tell Koizumi-san that the Agnese Force offers their full cooperation with his organization."

Kanzaki stared at her for a second.

"Just that?"

"Yes."

The saint seemed as if she wanted to ask something else, but in the end she decided against it.

"Ok I'll tell him, now if you excuse me."

"Go ahead. Sorry for holding you up so long, and once again thank you for everything."

"Don't mention it."

And just like that, the saint was gone. Agnese could finally relax, and concentrate on calibrating the spell in front of her. She had to do it now, or else she might risk being discovered before she could finish.

"There it is, now the spell and that girl are out of sight."

She made a few extra changes to the spell; basically she implemented a password system of sorts, to prevent anyone else discovering what she did.

"Now that's done, I better get back to work."

She sealed the room again and went back to her office; there she took some time to considerate everything she learned today. She had to understand everything perfectly, as there was simply no way she could allow a mistake like yesterdays' to happen ever again.

But it wasn't an easy task, with so many things to consider it was only a matter of time before her mind got distracted with other petty details she had to take care of, like their preparations for the Christmas celebration.

"Now that I think about it, I forgot to tell Kanzaki about it… Oh well, I suppose there's still time for that."

She shook her head, and took a look at a paper she had on her desk. It was a list filled with several phone numbers that Suzumiya Haruhi had hastily written before leaving.

"Let's see: a department store, an electronic shop, a family restaurant… Just how many part time jobs have these guys had?"

Then she simply chose one that she liked, and picked up the phone.

"Hello, I was calling to see if you were hiring for part time work."

**North High: Inside the SOS Brigade headquarters.**

I arrived at the clubroom a little earlier than usual. Thanks to yesterday's events I haven't been feeling like paying attention in class, so this whole day was eternal for me. Hopefully I can go home early today.

"Hi Nagato and…"

To my surprise the only person inside the room was Nagato, with Ichigo-san nowhere to be seen. She nodded at me as a greeting without taking her eyes of the book she was reading.

"Are you ok?"

"Reparations were completed yesterday without problems."

Funny, I could swear I saw her twitch when she said that.

"I see, that's good to hear. What about Ichigo-san why isn't she with you?"

"Cleaning duty."

"Didn't you girls used to…"

"Hello everyone!"

But before I could press that matter any further, I was interrupted by the glorious leader of the SOS Brigade making her entrance. She quickly went pass me without even saying a greeting, and got closer to Nagato.

"Yuki. I heard from Kyon that you were sick yesterday, are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine."

"Wonderful! I wouldn't want anyone getting sick while we're getting ready for our Christmas preparations."

Oh yeah, I remember her mentioning something about that yesterday before the whole day went to hell.

"I got an important announcement to make, but first we'll wait for everybody else to get here."

Then she pulled out a huge bag, and placed it on the table.

"Kyon, help me decorate the clubroom would you?"

She opened the bag and pulled out several Christmas decorations. Eventually taking out a can of snow spray, which she quickly used to write: Merry Xmas! on the window.

"Perfect!"

Actually I'm pretty sure people outside will see the words backwards… Anyway, luckily for me I didn't even have to spend 10 minutes helping Haruhi with her decorations before everyone else arrived, even Tsuruya-san was here.

"What is it Haru-nyan? Mikuru told me you were calling for me."

"You'll find out soon enough, just give me a second to prepare…"

Suddenly, Haruhi made us stand up on side of the room while she wrote something on the blackboard.

"Everyone, as you know Christmas is coming, and of course I wanted to honor this glorious tradition with some celebrations of our own."

She finished writing the words 'Christmas party' on the board, and turned around.

"Originally the plan was to make our own celebration: the SOS Brigade Christmas party, a party to end all others, an event so great people from this school would use it as a measure stick for generations to come."

Good to see that she still keeps her expectations grounded in reality.

"But, due to our involvement yesterday helping Angelene-chan and her sisters, I as the leader of the SOS Brigade found myself in a difficult position."

She turned around again, and wrote something else besides the first words.

"You see: it turns out the sisters are having a celebration of their own, and as a token of their gratitude they invited the entire SOS Brigade to attend."

Now the sign on the blackboard could be read as: 'The Second Church of Orsola Aquinas Christmas Party.'

"At first I was reluctant since I didn't want to associate the Brigade with any political or religious tendency, but Agnese-san assured me the party would be completely non-religious in nature as long as we got there after the mass ended."

Then she took our last piece of chalk, and wrote something else on the blackboard.

"Of course, once that matter was cleared I decided to accept their invitation; it would be rude to turn down their kindness. But that left us with a few other problems, you see it turns out that due to the construction of their church going out of budget, the sisters don't have much money left for the party."

Finally, the sign on the blackboard could be read as: 'The Second Church of Orsola Aquinas and The SOS Brigade Christmas Potluck Party'

"So I decided to help them the best that we could, I gave them all my contacts so they could find part-time work, and I was also thinking we could collaborate with a few things of our own."

Not a bad idea, unless you remember we are just eight and they're more than 200, so I don't think our collaborations to the party will matter all that much in the end.

"I was thinking on talking to Agnese-san and turn this into a hotpot party, although I don't know if we have a pot that's big enough."

Suddenly she stopped talking and looked at us as if expecting someone to say something, but no one did.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you guys already had plans for Christmas? I mean I know Kyon is free, but I don't know about the rest of you."

Hey! How could you possibly know that?

"Well, I don't have any plans for that date…"

Asahina-san said, and Kanzaki-san followed.

"Neither do I, although if they're having a mass before the party maybe I'll attend."

"Great! How about you Koizumi-kun? Do you have a date on Christmas eve?"

Koizumi just extended his arms and shook his head.

"No, for whatever reason my schedule is free on Christmas."

"Ichigo-chan, Yuki?"

Both girls just nodded their heads in unison.

"I'm going to assume that means you can come, and what about you?"

Tsuruya-san placed her hand under shin to think about it for a second.

"I am free on Christmas, but you know Haru-nya, I was thinking… Can we invite more people?"

Haruhi looked at her with suspicion.

"Sure, as long as they collaborate with the party I don't think it'll be a problem… But why? Are you planning to invite your boyfriend or something?"

I could see sweat dropping down Tsuruya-san's forehead.

"Maybe if I had one… Actually I was thinking on asking Himechi and Seichan."

"Them? I mean sure no problem, but are you sure they'll be able to come? I remember Saten-chan told me they needed special permission to get out of the city."

"Yeah, but according to Seichan they're more lenient on Christmas for whatever reason."

Now it was time for Haruhi to place her hand under her chin.

"I see... Then maybe I can invite Saten-chan, and the rest."

She seemed to give the idea some thought but then quickly snapped out of it.

"Oh well, I guess we can tell them at least… Anyway, now that's settled I suppose you're all dismissed."

Then before even waiting for us to move, she quickly went into her bag, and pulled out what appeared to be a female Santa Costume.

"On a completely different matter; Mikuru-chan, I got this for you!"

As Haruhi got that mischievous look on her face; I gave Koizumi a nod and we quickly got out of the room. I closed the door behind me, and then leaned on it.

"Well that went just like I expected."

"What do you mean Koizumi? Did you know about this was going to happen?"

Koizumi smiled at me.

"Agnese-san told me about it."

Huh?

"Kanzaki-san told me this morning she accepted the request I made last week, and now she's cooperating with the organization. I called her on lunch break, and she told me about the party."

"That's nice."

"Indeed, by the way I wanted to ask you something… Do you know if something's was bothering Suzumiya-san last weekend?"

"You mean besides finding a couple hundred unconscious nuns?"

He let out a chuckle.

"Actually, yes I do. Yesterday there were no closed spaces reported anywhere after everyone woke up, so I don't think that was I'm looking for."

It doesn't surprise me. She doesn't seem to be suspicious about anything, since she thinks her theory of oxygen deprivation is the truth.

"But leaving that aside, there's has been something else that must been bothering her lately. Ever since Saturday evening there were a few closed spaces appearing even while she was awake."

"What is so strange about that?"

He looked at me for a minute and sighed.

"Nothing, it's just than lately there were only appearing during her sleep, and most of the time they closed before she woke up."

"Maybe she was having nightmares?"

"That is our theory as well. It's amazing, compared to how she was during middle school Suzumiya-san it's like a completely different person, back then it would've been a dream seeing her like this… Oh… Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked."

He shook his head and smiled.

"Anyway, the thing is that yesterday afternoon every single closed space simply disappeared at once."

"Maybe she got distracted with the whole: 'hundreds of unconscious nuns' business."

"I thought about that, but if that were the case then they would've reappeared by now."

That makes sense… Anyway, something that could've been bothering Haruhi…

"Now that I think about it: yesterday before we found Angele-san she told me she was having problems with the record label."

"I see."

And then to my surprise, he said nothing else.

"Aren't you going to ask?"

Once again he just shook his head.

"No. I have a feeling that if no more closed spaces are appearing it's because she feels better about the whole thing, plus…"

"Plus…?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking that I might want to check a few things with our contact in Academy City."

"I thought you said you had no influence of Academy City."

He chuckled once again, getting a little closer to me before saying his next words.

"Well, that is that truth. Back when I said that we didn't have any kind of influence in the city… But things are different now, thanks to our trip we managed to get someone on the inside to cooperate with the organization."

Wow! You guys work fast… But before I could continue with my train of thought, the door of the club room opened, and since I was carelessly leaning to it. I feel backwards into the room, spotting a little white patch below a red sea, right before slamming head first into the floor.

**St. George's Cathedral**

"Ok, I get it .Thanks for your report Agnese-san."

The Archbishop of the Church of England hung up the phone as carelessly as she could. This morning she received a couple of reports from those protecting Suzumiya Haruhi, and thanks to them, her mood wasn't precisely the best.

"What does this even mean?"

It wasn't that the Roman Catholics tried to steal her power, which was to be expected. If anything she was surprised they took so long to decide a course of action… Although with this report, now she probably knew why.

"And those four are involved."

Laura poured herself a cup of tea, while she tried to remember the words of her friend from the future. Back during their meetings she had told her about a certain group inside the Roman Catholic Church, an organization known as God's Right Seat.

She had been very vague about it, only telling her barebones information about its members because otherwise it might mess up the time continuum or something like that.

"I should've asked for more information on our deal, but I can't help it anymore I guess."

But she hadn't seen her friend from the future since their negotiations ended, so it would be pointless to rely on her. She would surely appear next time she needed something.

Laura took a sip of her tea, and quickly shifted her thoughts towards what should be her point of interest. The mysterious girl that is fit to wield the powers of Suzumiya Haruhi.

"What a headache!"

She placed her cup of tea on the table, and then sighed. The reason of her worry wasn't precisely the girl herself, she would be troublesome sure; but nothing compared to the can of worms she opened: Do more people like her exist? How is anyone 'fit' to wield those powers? Are you born like that, or is possible to become 'fit'? Is it really possible to transfer the divine powers? So many troublesome questions with no concise answers in sight.

Luckily for Laura, the girl came with the perfect excuse to hide her existence included. The spell the Roman Catholics placed on her would troublesome surely, but it could be used to her advantage as well.

"For the time being, we'll have to stay quiet."

It was the best move, the stalemate was getting more complicated, but time was on her side and she could afford to drag the situation a little longer. It was not needed for her to play her best card just yet.

"A real shame, I was really looking forward to it."

Unfortunately, her plans to get Suzumiya's favor would have to wait a little longer.

"Looking forward to what, Archbishop?"

"Huh? Oh Stiyl" I didn't notice your arrival. Please have a seat."

The red haired mage from Necessarius appeared right behind her, fortunately it seemed he didn't hear Laura's previous mumblings, it could've been bothersome otherwise. He ignored her request, and quickly got in front of her.

"Here are the documents you asked me for."

"Thank you."

She quickly grabbed the bundle of papers he handled to her, mainly some unimportant stuff about the day to day life in the church.

"Anything else you I can help you with Stiyl?"

She noticed the stern expression Stiyl had on the corner of her eyes while she shuffled through the documents. This usually meant he had something to whine about.

"I heard the Agnese force was attacked by the Roman Catholics yesterday."

She answered without looking at him, keeping her attention focused on the documents the whole time. To be honest she was unsurprised Styil found out about it so soon, after all nothing is faster than the speed of a rumor.

"Kind of… It was an accident caused by a traitor trying to steal the divine powers, luckily Kanzaki located, and disposed of him before he could do any damage."

Laura noticed how Styil raised his eyebrow, but she didn't seem to care.

"It that's really all there is to it?"

"What do you mean?"

She could hear Styil muffled sigh.

"Nothing, I was just wondering about something… It seems that girl got involved in the incident, and somehow began the chain reaction that saved the Agnese force."

"Yeah, that should make wonders for their morale; I've heard it wasn't precisely at its best condition."

"Exactly… Aren't you worried about that?"

The Archbishop finally placed down the papers, and looked at Styil directly into his eyes.

"Why should I be worried about that?"

"First it was Kanzaki, and now the Agnese force; it seems that every single person we sent to her becomes involved with her."

"Yeah… That was the point. If they're going to be protecting her is better to approach her, and gain her trust little by little. She could get suspicious of us otherwise."

She could notice how Styil expression changed completely, now he was completely serious.

"Really…? I'll give you Kanzaki, but the order you gave to the force explicitly said to remain on the sidelines."

And to that Laura just smiled at him without a care in the world.

"Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure their encounter would be natural, if it felt forced it could've caused an undesired reaction... If I remember correctly Kazanki's almost did, something about a uniform a few sizes too small. We were lucky something else happened that changed their relationship to what it is now, but it could've been very differently."

Despite her rebuttal Styil face did not change; rather he just quickly changed subjects.

"Anyway, that is beside the point. What I meant is…"

"You're worried that now that Kanzaki, and the Agnese force are personally involved with Suzumiya Haruhi. There might be some tension inside the Anglican Church."

Of course Laura was not stupid; she knew that not everyone was content with the position of the church regarding Suzumiya, consensus was far from unanimous about her on even the most trivial of matter when it came to her.

"Exactly, if someone begins to doubt their loyalty it could become troublesome."

There was some truth to Styil words. From a certain point of view it was unclear what could happen if the interest of the church went against Suzumiya's best interests. Now that the Agnese Force, Kanzaki Kaori, and by extension the Amakusa Catholics could easily be on her side.

"But it's okay. As long as the Anglican Church maintains its position about Suzumiya Haruhi, there's nothing to worry about."

Of course, the Archbishop knew this better than everyone, and for that reason she was sure that if worst came to worst, all the important players would stand together with her, and Laura… well she knew where she stood.

"Now if there's nothing else you need Styil, I have to finish with these documents before noon."

Then again, that wasn't something Styil should be worrying about.

"I see… Sorry to have bothered you Archbishop."

And it seemed he understood that.

**North High: Inside the Nurse Room.**

"I think he's waking up…"

As I recovered my consciousness, I could hear a faint voice in the distance at the same time I became aware of a horrible pain on the back of my head.

"Huh…?"

"Kyon… are you okay?"

I opened my eyes to find my Suzumiya Haruhi right on my face, and the rest of the brigade seemed to be around her.

"Haruhi… What happened?"

I could barely mumble those words… Man my head is killing me.

"You don't remember? You fell and hit the back of your head."

"I don't know, all I remember is a white spot on a red sea…"

For some reason Asahina-san looked the other way when I said that, and immediately I heard Haruhi clearing out her throat.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter… The fact is that you fell, and hit the back of your head. The nurse said that you had a bump on that spot from before, and when you fell on it the pain made you lose consciousness."

I did? I must have gotten it yesterday when that creep in green attacked me.

"Yeah… I fell last night when we were going back home, I must have gotten it back then."

"And you didn't notice?"

Nope, I was a little busy with the psycho trying to kill me to pay attention to it.

"Well, it did hurt a lot at first, but I was really tired, and went to sleep like that. When I woke up it didn't hurt anymore so I thought it was ok."

"Seriously Kyon, you have to take care of yourself… "

Haruhi gave a huge sigh.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore; I'm going to search for the school nurse. Maybe I can get you some pain killers from her or something."

Immediately, Koizumi took a step towards Haruhi.

"I'll go with you Suzumiya-san."

The leader only nodded at him. "Ok, we'll be back as fast as we can, wait for us here." And before we knew it they were both out of the room.

"That was unfortunate Kyon-kun, falling unconscious right before you could see it."

I noticed Tsuruya-san was on the back of the room where I couldn't see her before. For some reason her words made Asahina-san look away embarrassed again.

"Let me see the back of your head Kyon-san."

Kanzaki-san got closer to me, and helped me sit on the bed. Then she examined the place where the pain came from, and used her fingers to…

"Ouch!"

"I'm guessing that's the spot."

"Yeah, it is…"

You could've just asked you know.

"Ok, now be still for a moment…"

I just nodded at her, then I could see her arms moving really fast behind my head for a second and then… It didn't hurt anymore.

"Wow! What did you do Kaorin? His face got better all of the sudden."

Kanzaki-san got away from me again with a satisfied smile on her face.

"I hit a few pressure points to ease the pain. It should help until Haruhi-san brings the pain killers."

I don't know what she means, but it works like a charm. I feel like a billion yen.

"Really? Don't tell me…? Can you make his head explode too?"

Kanzaki-san just looked at her as if she was crazy and shook her head.

"Of course not."

And predictably Tsuruya-san just laughed it off.

"That's a shame Kaorin…"

Amidst all that laughter, I was just happy that the pain disappeared.

**The next day in Academy City: School District 7.**

"Everyone, remember tomorrow we'll have a test about the history of Academy City and the origins of esper abilities."

Inside a classroom in a certain high school, an unlucky student was quietly sulking on his desk.

"Yes Komoe-Sensei!"

It wasn't because he was trapped in school, he enjoyed class in its own way; rather there was something else that was making him miserable.

"By the way Kamijou-kun…"

He reluctantly looked up at his teacher, mentally prepared for her next words.

"What is it Komoe-Sensei?"

The little pink haired woman got closer to him with a huge smile on her face.

"Kamijou-kun, as your teacher you know I worry about your well being. Now while I think that as a healthy young boy you might not see a problem with that type of play; it is my duty as an adult and as your teacher to guide you through the proper path."

Kamijou sulked, and wished for nothing more that disappearing of the face of the earth. Unfortunately for him his right hand possessed a power called the Imagine Breaker which destroyed supernatural forces no matter how powerful. So even if there was a miracle that could prevent him from having this conversation with his teacher in front of the whole class, it would simply be negated by his own misfortune.

"Sensei, for the last time it not some sort of 'play'… How come nobody listens to anything I say?"

But the little teacher simply ignored his defense, and continued as if nothing no words had been said.

"So could you please tell your 'stalker' to get down from there? I'm afraid she might fall and injure herself."

He took a long breath before answering her.

"First of all she not my 'stalker', she my stalker no quotation, and…"

But his speech was cut short by one of his classmates, a blond boy with sunglasses.

"Give it up Kamiyan, we saw you walking and talking together after school yesterday."

And the killing blow was given by another of his classmates, a young man with blue hair and piercings.

"Not to mention she was there when I visited you in the hospital last time you got hospitalized."

Kamijou looked down on the floor, and muttered "Such misfortune…" Before getting back into the fight, and try to leave this discussion with a little bit of dignity intact.

"That's beside the point…"

"Kamijou-kun! It doesn't matter what kind of relationship you have with her, but could you please tell her to get down?"

"Why? It's not like she listen to me: first she was standing in the back of the classroom. I told her to wait for me outside, so she went out and climbed up to the ledge outside the window."

Although now that he thought about it, Kamijou wasn't sure if there even was a ledge outside the window.

"Then I told her to stop climbing on buildings, so what does she do? Of course, she climbs onto the tree closest to the window."

Granted he acknowledged he should've seen that one coming.

"Finally I tell her to get down from that tree… She complied, and then climbed onto the second closest tree instead!"

Honestly, he was starting to think the girl had a thing for climbing.

"It's useless…"

He sighed and looked down again, meanwhile a little drop of sweat dropped down the back of his teacher's head.

"Kamijou-kun…"

But before she could continue, the young man with blue hair, and piercings made a proposition.

"Komoe-sensei, why don't we just let Kimidori-san stay in the back of the classroom? It's not like she's a bother."

The pink haired teacher then saw how her entire class nodded their heads in agreement; she gave the idea some consideration before consenting.

"Ok, as long as she gets down that tree… Seriously Kamijou-kun, first it was Sister-san, and now this."

Kamijou could just mutter.

"It's not like I do it on purpose… Such misfortune…"

"It doesn't matter Kamijou-kun, I understand. Now could you please tell her to come into the classroom?"

He stood up and then walked to the window, to be honest Kamijou was already used to doing this kind of display thanks to his perpetual misfortune, but that didn't mean he enjoyed them.

"Kimidori-san!"

"Yes, Kamijou-san?"

"Komoe-sensei said you can stay in the back of the classroom!"

He stopped yelling as he noticed the girl in question disappeared from the branch she was leaning, turning around he found that she was already standing at the back of the classroom.

"That's great, thank you Sensei."

"You're welcome Kimidori-san."

Of course Kamijou knew this girl wasn't a normal esper by any definition of the word, but for some reason no one in his classroom seemed to have any suspicion of that fact. It probably had to do with how in any other place in the world such displays of speed would be unheard of, but in Academy City where esper abilities were common, nobody gave it much thought.

"Such misfortune…"

So he just muttered something and decided the best course of action was just to go back to his seat, which he did as quickly as possible just so he could rest on his desk.

…

Nearly an hour later, the bell rang to let everybody know that class was over for the day. As the rush of the students going home or to their club activities was going down in the hallways, the spiky haired boy just remained on his desk waiting for the right time to leave.

"Hey Kamijou!"

He raised his head to look at the person in front of him: a black haired girl with a nice figure named Fukiyose Seiri.

"What's wrong Fukiyose?"

The girl looked around then quickly got closer to him, and whispered something to his ear.

"Are you going to the Christmas party with Suzumiya-san?"

Kamijou Touma could do many things, unfortunately picking up signs women gave to him wasn't one of his strong points. So when Fukiyose whispered something to him, his reaction was to answer her with his regular speaking voice.

"A party with Suzumiya-san? What are you talking about Fukiyose?"

Immediately Fukiyose placed the palm of her hand on her forehead and a couple of angry veins appeared right besides it, as to their classmates Kamijou's words might as well been call to arms for everyone to get back to the classroom. After all it'd only been a little bit more than a week since the last time their idol appeared on TV, so she was still a hot topic.

"A party with Suzumiya-san?"

"What are you talking about Fukiyose?"

In an instant every single one of their classmates surrounded Kamijou, and Fukiyose. The girl let out a huge sigh, and angrily glared at the boy before trying to undo the damage.

"Eh, nothing…"

But one look at her classmates quickly told her it was better to tell the truth. She cleaned her throat trying to regain her composure.

"It's just that a friend of mine invited us to a Christmas potluck party in the same town Suzumiya-san lives."

Then in almost complete synchrony, everyone said the following words: "Really? Is Suzumiya-san going to attend?"

To which Fukiyose could only answer with a weak: "I think so…"

But in practical terms she might as well have said yes, as suddenly a huge cheer erupted that could be heard from nearly a mile away.

"But!"

Fukiyose stomped her foot into the floor to get her classmates attention. Having decided that the damage was already done, the only thing left for her to do was trying to get back control of the situation.

"As I said it is a potluck party, so if we're going to attend we'll have to bring something."

Suddenly the young man with blue hair and piercings took a step forward.

"Then we'll need to create a fund to purchase food and drinks."

Fukiyose nodded at him.

"That's correct; we'll also need to fill out the forms to leave on the 24 and submit them a.s.a.p. it's only a week away so we're already late, but we can still make it."

The entire crowd nodded.

"Maybe we can pass it up as a school trip?"

"We could try that, but…"

As the discussion intensified, the spiky haired boy quietly snuck out of the classroom without been seen.

"Sorry Fukiyose…"

And said a little apology her classmate would never get to hear.

"Don't worry. Tsuruya-san said we could invite as many people as we wanted as long as we bring enough food."

Kamijou turned around and found another one of his classmates, a girl by the name of Himegami Aisa had snuck out at the same time he did. He wasn't even surprised by her sudden appearance, he had gotten used to this girl ability to go unnoticed.

"I see… This Tsuruya-san person, who is she?"

"She is the friend that invited us to the party. I met her last month when I visited you during the exchange program."

Himegami pulled out a phone from her bag, and showed him a picture of her and a girl with green hair inside what appeared to be an expensive looking restaurant.

"I remember her, I think I saw her once or twice around school."

She put her phone away carefully and then faced him once again.

"Are you going to the party Kamijou-kun?"

"I'll think about it, it's not like I have plans for Christmas anyway."

Then again to a cosmic plaything like Kamijou Touma, having plans or not meant little in the grand scheme of things.

"I see… Well I need to leave now Kamijou-kun, good bye."

The girl then quietly excused herself and left towards the women's washroom. Watching her go, Kamijou could only sigh and turn around towards the exit.

"Ready to go home Kamijou-san?"

Only to run straight into the girl that caused him so much trouble earlier today: Emiri Kimidori.

"Yes, let's go Kimidori-san."

He thought about telling her something about her constant stalking being a bother, but experience had taught him that either she had thickest skin anyone could have, or that she simply didn't understood the problems she was causing him. Either way it was pointless to complain.

"Perfect. I took into consideration the price of goods, location and frequency of sales of the convenience stores nearby to prepare an optimal route to return home and do grocery shopping."

Not to mention she always found a way to make herself useful, so it was hard to get mad at her.

"Great! Let's go then."

He gave a couple of steps towards the exit, but stopped as soon as she noticed the green haired girl wasn't following him.

"What's wrong Kimidori-san?"

"Aren't we going to wait for Index-san?"

"Huh?"

The green haired girl pointed inside the classroom, following her finger Kamijou found his other roommate happily taking his place in the party preparations.

"No! It's a better idea to buy the ingredients rather than prepackaged food for those kinds of dishes, it'll taste better."

"I think you're right Sister-san I bet it'll be cheaper too, I'll ask Tsuruya-san if they have a kitchen over there or if we need to prepare the food before leaving."

Upon seeing this, Kamijou could do nothing but sigh. It'll be a while before the preparations concluded, and he couldn't leave the little nun behind.

"I need to study for the test tomorrow… Such misfortune!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's note: **Hello everyone, hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you have a Happy New Year.

* * *

**Prologue:**

"Well, I guess this is it."

Kamijou Touma quietly closed the book he was reading, and then let out a huge yawn.

"Finally! One test I could actually study for."

He placed the book inside his bag, and then quietly turned around towards his curiously empty bed.

"Such a strange sight."

Ever since he could remember, Kamijou had to share his room with the little nun at the very least, so any occasion where he could be by himself was rare.

"Oh well..."

It had been nothing but a simple coincidence: this afternoon just as his party arrived home they found Tsuchimikado Maika outside her brother's room reading a note; it seemed he had gone somewhere and wouldn't come back tonight.

Rather than going back to her dorm, the maid in training just asked Index to stay with her and have a slumber party on her brother's room. A request Index was happy to accept once the promise of food was made. Kamijou was invited as well, but he politely declined since he had to study, plus Tsuchimikado would kill him if he knew he slept in the same room as his little sister.

"It seems they've fallen asleep."

They were a little noisy at first, but he had stopped hearing them around midnight.

'_Yawn!'_

Kamijou stretched himself as tiredness was finally beginning to take its toll.

"I should do the same as well."

He looked around his room looking for the other girl who lived with him, but she was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't uncommon though, she would often disappear for a couple of hours at a time only to be back to her 'observation' before he knew it.

"Good night."

Kamijou muttered those words to no one in particular as he lay down on his bed to sleep, slowly drifting into a world of dreams that would change his life forever.

**Chapter 24:**

'_Ring! Ring! Ring!'_

The horrible sound of a bell drowned the poor soul of the boy who hastily tried to stop it; one look at the source of the hellish alarm told him it was about time for him to get up.

"Index, are you in the bath…? No wait, she didn't sleep here last night."

Kamijou looked at himself in the mirror and noticed his face looked miserable. He didn't have a good night sleep, as for some reason he kept having horrible nightmares that involved his roommates, classmates, and most people he knew. Morphed into strange creatures that weren't quite marionettes nor really puppets, singing catchy songs about their everyday life.

"What was that all about anyway?"

He shook his head and quickly finished his business in the washroom and got dressed. He thought about getting something to eat, but it was quite late and there wasn't enough time.

"Huh! What is this?"

As he was going out, the boy spotted a little stack of cards placed on top of his table, he picked the top card of the stack and then looked at the back.

"Academy Battle… Is this some sort of trading card game? Index is this yours?"

There was no one to answer him. He sighed and resigned himself to ask his roommate about those mysterious cards later. It was getting late and he had to get to school.

"I'm lea…"

Kamijou interrupted himself with a sad smile before he could finish those words. As he was going out he thought about knocking on the apartment next door but decided against it in the end, thinking Index would get mad at him if he woke them up.

On his way to school, the boy with the imagine breaker couldn't help but to notice how the entire day had been… quiet. He was so used to his unluckiness getting in the way of his daily commute, that the fact that not even an old lady had asked him to cross the street made him unease.

"Such misfortune…"

The most depressing thing being that he was used to this kind of moments being the calm before the storm, and then just as he lowered his guard: a magician would try to invade Academy City, or maybe the underground organizations would rise, or… Well anything could happen really.

"Hey Kamijan!"

Kamijou heard one of his friends calling him from behind, the young man with blue hair and piercings.

"How are you Aogami?"

"Perfect…"

And just as he said those words, a huge yawn escaped his mouth.

"…A little tired thought, I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night."

"Are you that hyped for the Christmas party?"

Aogami looked at Kamijou with pity on his eyes and then slowly shook his head.

"What's with that condescending stare?"

He then proceeded to ignore Kamijous words and sigh.

"That is so like you Kamijan, getting so excited for a little party."

"What are you talking about?"

He looked at his friend as if he was crazy, yesterday he seemed really excited about the party and he even heard him mumbling about how he was going to meet the goddess of moe again.

"The party is not the reason to get excited, it's the company."

"Company? Don't tell me you…?"

The boy with blue hair simply gave him a cocky smile, and slowly nodded his head.

"Yep, I did it Kamijan… I finally got a date with a beautiful lady from Kirigaoka Girls' Academy."

"Huh?" Was all Kamijou managed to say, to be honest while he knew Aogami was famous from his love of anything that could be classified as a human female, this was the first time he ever heard he actually acted on said love rather than just watching from the sidelines.

"So I'll be attending the party with a companion, although I kind of wish we could skip the party and just go to the aftermath…"

He noticed how Aogami just went on and on about what he was planning to do with his date on Christmas, and finally understood why the sudden change in personality. Honestly Kamijou found really weird how the boy with blue hair could simply ignore an opportunity to go to a party with his idol, but if he says he actually found a date then maybe he finally decided to face reality, and start going after girls he actually has a chance with.

"You've matured Aogami."

His friend let out a grin, and patted his back.

"Don't worry Kamijan, I'm sure you'll get there too."

Kamijou sighed and just kept walking in silence, although his mind kept getting distracted by the thought of a girl so perfect Aogami decided to ask her out, and at the same time crazy enough to actually accept going out with him.

"Hey you two!"

Both boys turned around to find the last member of their group, a blond young man with sunglasses… No wait.

"Tsuchimikado… What did you do to your hair?"

Tsuchimikado Motoharu, a boy best known for his sister complex, and his blond spiky hair... that wasn't blond anymore.

"Huh…? Well I had to cut it recently."

Kamijou looked at him directly. It is true that it was somehow shorter than usual, but the fact that it changed colors overnight and was the same dark color as his seemed like a more notable change.

"Oh I see… I didn't notice Tsuchimikado-kun."

"Well it was just a little, you have good eyes Kamiyan."

A little drop of sweat went through the back of Kamijou's head as he noticed how he seemed to be the only one who noticed the hair color change…

"Such misfortune…"

But knowing Tsuchimikado like he did, chances are there is some magical reason behind all this, and there's nothing to worry about.

"Anyway, never mind my hair. Let's talk about our plans for afterschool today, yesterday I was caught up in some things, and couldn't…"

So he decided to just play along for now, he could always ask Tsuchimikado later on.

A little later they arrived at their classroom, everything seemed the same as always and Kamijou was grateful none of his classmates had any more unexpected hair color changes.

"Good morning everyone!"

The boy greeted his teacher and then sat on his desk, eagerly awaiting the test as he could finally study for once.

"Well I hope you guys are ready for the history test."

He could hear his some of his classmates mumbling, some with happiness, most with dread. But everyone looked anxious as the little teacher pulled out a huge stack of papers from behind her desk, and began to hand them out.

"Huh? She hasn't arrived yet, that's weird…"

The pink haired teacher stopped for a moment besides Himegami's seat, as she seemed to be absent today. That was odd; she wasn't one to miss school.

"Here you go Kamijou-chan."

He took the piece of paper and placed it on his desk with confidence, he spent the entire night studying the history of esper development, and he was sure he memorized every single detail, every single fact that could possibly appear on this test.

"Well, you can start now."

As he heard the words of his teacher, Kamijou took a second to breathe and mentally prepare himself to ace this thing, so he lowered his sight and read the first question.

'_What year did the Taika reforms occur?'_

Kamijou's mind froze as he read the question over and over again, and then it nearly broke apart when he looked down and noticed all the questions were of the same kind.

"Komoe-sensei."

He lifted his hand in what he thought was his unluckiness finally catching up with him.

"Yes Kamijou-chan, do you have a question about the test?"

"Yes, actually I do…"

"What is it?"

He inhaled all the air he could into his lungs before finally asking a question he thought was perfectly reasonable.

"I thought today's test was about the history of the development of ESP."

But for some reason it caused everyone in the classroom to burst out laughing. He couldn't help but to think they were overreacting. They should be used to this kind of things by now, but that didn't stop his 'best friends' from mocking him.

"What are you talking about Kamiyan?"

"ESP? Isn't that when a girl starts…"

Aogami couldn't finish that sentence though, as Fukiyose threw an eraser right between his eyes.

"That's PMS idiot! ESP are psychic powers."

But luckily for Kamijou, the laughter stopped as Komoe-sensei cleared her throat to regain control of the classroom.

"Kamijou-chan. I don't know whether this is your idea of a joke, or if you really thought the subject was about that. But this test is about Japanese history."

"I see…"

He lowered his head back into the test and whispered to himself.

"What's their problem? It's just an innocent mistake… And to think I spent the entire night studying for the wrong subject… Such misfortune."

"Sorry, I'm late everyone!"

Suddenly Kamijou Touma's mind froze again, this time stronger than before as he knew that voice. It belonged to a girl that had caused him so much trouble, a girl that he could never even touch. He raised his head, and saw with terrible dread that Suzumiya Haruhi had appeared before him.

"Moh! Suzumiya-san you're always doing this."

The girl tried to laugh off her teacher's scolding as she grabbed a piece of paper from her and sat on Himegami's seat.

"Sorry… It's just that an idol's work is so tiring. Yesterday I was rehearsing until 4 am, so I couldn't help but to wake up a little late."

"To be so full of energy despite working so late; as expected of Academy City's greatest idol."

"And she was only 5 minutes late, so awesome!"

After this one could hear the entire classroom swooning for their idol, even the little pink haired teacher couldn't help herself… Well there was one person who didn't move, completely petrified, and terribly confused, Kamijou Touma raised his hand in desperation.

"Sensei…?"

"What is it Kamijou-kun?"

He took a deep breath, and braced himself for the worst.

"W… Why is Suzumiya-san here?"

The little teacher looked at him confused by his question.

"What do you mean Kamijou-chan? This is her school, where else would she be?"

"I understand you Kamiyan, why does such a perfect idol have to come to this dump every day? It really is mindboggling… Not that I'm complaining of course"

There was a moment of silence when the entire classroom seemed to give tacit approval to Aogami's words, only the idol herself objected.

"Come on everyone… I love this place, I could've gone to any of the schools in the School Garden if I wanted to, but I like it here. This is my home, and you're like my family."

Following her words, a few tears could be heard coming from her classmates as well as some declarations along the lines of 'We don't deserve her'.

"Thank you!"

The idol gave a smile to the classroom that left everyone in a daze, and then sat on her desk with her test in hand.

"I see…"

Kamijou slowly looked down to his test, before raising his head again.

"Sensei… I'm not feeling very well. Can I go to the infirmary?"

The little teacher looked at him, and sighed.

"Kamijou-chan if you just wanted to skip the test you could've just said so from the beginning."

"It's not that, I…"

"Ok, but I'll only repeat the test if you get a note from the nurse, ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine…"

He stood up and gave her the piece of paper, slowly making his way out of the classroom as his ears were filled with whisper of words like "What's his problem?" and similar.

Once he was out of the door, he closed it with extreme care, and then ran… He ran out of the building into the courtyard so fast his legs gave in less than a minute, then as he collapsed on the floor Kamijou Touma finally let out the question on his mind.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Then he hit the ground with his fists over and over again, so strong was his pounding he managed to raise a little could of dust before feeling a sharp pain on the back of his head, and passing out right where he laid.

…

"Wake up! Kamijou Touma!"

The boy slowly opened his eyes as he realized a mild headache had taken over his mind, looking around he noticed he wasn't in the courtyard anymore, rather he was calmly resting on what appeared to be the nurse office.

"Thank god! I was starting to think I overdid it."

He followed the source of the voice with his eyes, and found not the nurse but rather a Catholic Saint he knew quite well.

"Kanzaki?"

But just like everything else there was something different about her. She wasn't wearing her typical half-torn jeans and white shirt combo, or even a nurse uniform that would've fit with the environment; rather she was dressed in a tight fitting black business suit.

"Sorry Kamijou. I didn't mean to knock you unconscious, but I kind of overreacted when I saw you yelling like a madman in the middle of the courtyard. "

And it wasn't just her clothes, her long hair was tied in a bun behind her head rather than in her usual lovely ponytail, and she was uncharacteristically wearing makeup that together with the thin frame polarized glasses she had around her forehead made her look more serious and mature than ever before.

"I'm sorry… Did you carry me here?"

She nodded her head slightly in a serious manner, a gesture the made Kamijou blush if only a little bit. To be perfectly honest to someone like him who liked women with a mature aura, he couldn't help but to find this new Kanzaki extremely alluring.

"Yes I did, I couldn't just let you laying there in the middle of the yard could I…?"

In that moment a little 'blip' could be heard, immediately Kanzaki pulled out an expensive looking phone from her coat pocket, and in less than a second she unlocked it, checked the message, and put it back into her coat.

"Anyway sorry about your neck again, but I need to leave. Haruhi-san just texted me that the test is over and we need to get going right now. Otherwise she's going to be late for her interview in that talk show… Man, Koizumi-san is going to get mad at me again."

"Suzumiya-san? Are you taking care of her?"

She just nodded her head again.

"Of course I'm her bodyguard remember? Don't tell me the shock messed up with your memories?"

Kamijou just sighed.

"Yeah… Don't worry about it, I remember now."

Fortunately for him, lying about the state of his memories was already something he could do naturally.

"Ok… I recommend you stay put for the time being, you might get nauseous or pass out again if you move too much; also I told the nurse what happened and she agreed to send a note to Komoe-sensei. You can take the rest of the day off."

"Just what did you do to me…?"

She gave him a small smile as she put her glasses on and then turned around again, leaving the room with only that gesture.

"I can't believe this."

Was all Kamijou could say as he let himself fall into the bed, noting a sharp pain when he felt the back of his head touching the pillow.

"Did an Angel fall again? Or maybe this is how the imaginary numbers district looks on the inside…? Such misfortune."

He slowly closed his eyes to take a nap when he noticed something displayed on a large bookshelf right in front of his bed. The boy stood up ignoring Kanzaki's warnings and quickly made his way towards it.

"The History of Academy City? This is…"

It was a copy of the book he had spent the entire night yesterday reading, it had the same cover and everything as it appeared to be the same edition.

"_Academy City started as a simple idea in the mind of our illustrious founder Edward Alexander Crowley, in 1947 only two years after the end of the greatest war the world has ever seen. He wondered about the possibility of a city independent of any nation entirely devoted to the pursuit of academic knowledge. "_

"What the hell is this crap?"

The book looked the same, but the content was completely different. He touched his head with his right hand and noticed no change, and then he tried to do the same to the pages of the book he was reading, but…

"_In 1952 Mr. Crowley proposed this possibility to the leaders of the world in an audience inside the recently founded headquarters of the United Nations. Charmed by his powerful speech and revolutionary ideas, the U.N. almost unanimously decided to give him a modest amount of funding for his project, and more importantly a sizable piece of land that was his to build his dream on. But there was still a problem, since his city would need to be independent of any country, there was still the question of which nation would give up some of its territory for its construction. "_

"_In the end, it was decided that it would be build in the nation of Japan. The country while not officially a member of the U.N. at this point in time, accepted on the conditions that any workforce, materials, or services needed on the construction of the city had to be Japanese in its origin, and also that should the project fail, the Japanese government reserved the rights to repatriate the land it was giving up". _

"_It is said that upon hearing this conditions, Mr. Crowley just smiled to himself and said: 'It won't fail.' Before immediately accepting and starting to work on the blueprints of what now more than half a century after its founding, it's the center of the academic word with technology said to be 30 years more advanced than anything else in the world. The true city of tomorrow: Academy City!"_

"For crying out loud, this reads like a theme park documentary!"

Kamijou slammed the book shut, taking some time to catch on his breath before putting the book back on its place.

"Is this magic spell? Or maybe collective hypnosis or some crap…? This isn't what I read last night!"

He managed to get a hold of himself just as he was about to lose it, touching his head once again with his right hand, trying to dispel something that just wasn't there.

"Such misfortune…"

Giving up, Kamijou Touma simply left the room and found himself without a place to go, he didn't feel like staying at school so he just quickly sneaked into his classroom and got his bag back. Luckily for him, Komoe-sensei noticed him, but let him go without trouble.

"She must have gotten the note already… Thank you Kanzaki."

It felt weird for him to thanks someone for knocking him unconscious, but what can you do about it?

"I guess I'll just take a walk…"

Taking some time to stroll around, Kamijou couldn't help but to notice how despite everything looking around the same as usual, for some reason he felt as if he was a stranger in his own city.

"It's like they never existed…"

It was probably how every trace of esper abilities seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth; usually you would see at the very least a few kids playing with them, or a teleporter gliding through the air or something; but now those memories seemed nothing more than a distant dream…

"Stop right there sir!"

Kamijou stopped himself as he noticed he was about to cross an intersection on a green light.

"Crap…"

He jumped backwards when he felt a truck passing right in front of him, losing his balance and falling butt first into the ground.

"Sir you need to be more careful..."

"Sorry I was…"

But both stopped talking as their met, Kamijou easily recognizing the judgement member known as Shirai Kuroko.

"Oh, it's you…"

There weren't many changes to this girl, the only thing Kamijou could notice on first sight was that those weird belts filled with nails she carried on her legs were gone, replaced instead with a huge taser that looked far more threatening.

"Kamijjou-san, I suppose that warning we gave you to refrain from your usual _'cough'_ vandalism might have affected you somehow, but that's barely a reason to throw your life away."

A single drop of sweat dropped down the back of Kamijou's head as he saw that Shirai was saying that without an ounce of sarcasm. It was in this moment he noticed the thing that changed the most about Shirai Kuroko, usually she would look at him with annoyance, if not pure hatred, however right now she was obviously… bored.

"Sorry, I just got lost in thought for a while…"

"That is no excuse, if you don't feel like paying attention to the street you're on then stay at home… Speaking about that shouldn't you be at school?"

"I got a note from the nurse to go home early today."

She extended her hand towards him. Kamijou however couldn't understand her gesture right away, it was only a few glares later that he got it, quickly pulled out his id from his wallet, and handed it over to her.

"Thank you…"

The girl lazily took it, and scanned it with a little terminal she had on her pocket.

"It seems your story is true…"

"Of course it is… Wait a minute, shouldn't **you** be a school?"

Shirai looked at him visibly annoyed by his lack of formality, something completely unwarranted considering Kamijou was her senior.

"Kamijou-san, I assume you haven't forgotten that Judgment members are allowed to skip school if there is a reason that requires them to do so… Today it just so happened that one of my coworkers was sick, and couldn't report to her morning patrolling duties."

She didn't say it, but Kamijou could easily hear "Not that's any of your business." at the end of her sentence.

"Anyway Kamijou-san, please be more careful in the future. I must now take my leave."

Then Shirai simply turned around and casually walked away, leaving the still sitting on the floor Kamijou to stare at her as she did.

"At least she's still the same…"

"What is that person doing sitting in the middle of the street, says Misaka as Mi… Ouch!"

"I told you to stop speaking like that! That verbal tic of yours needs to go."

The boy stood up as soon as he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him, turning around immediately he found the scene of a little girl whose cheek was being gently pulled by a dark haired boy who seemed familiar.

"I'm sorry, I'll stop… I promise."

"Good."

"But I'll let you know it's not a verbal tic, it's a speech pattern."

"Whatever…"

The dark haired boy let go of her, and then turned his attention towards Kamijou. He stared at him for a while before suddenly having a realization.

"You…!"

He extended his arm to point at Kamijou, but stopped completely mid action for no apparent reason.

"Huh… Sorry, I…"

The dark haired boy didn't react to Kamijou's words and just stayed motionless.

"What's wrong? Hey isn't that the person that beat you in…?"

Reacting only when his little companion (Someone that upon further inspection the spiky haired hero could recognize as the 20001 SISTER he knew as Last Order) spoke to him.

"Let's go."

"But, I…"

"I said let's go. We need to get going towards your ballet lessons young lady."

Then he grabbed her hand and quickly walked away from Kamijou, who could only say:

"What was that all about?"

Before shaking his head, and forget about that pointless scene.

"This is getting weirder by the…" _'Growl!'_

But his self-pity was interrupted by his stomach letting him know it was time to eat.

"I guess I'll just get some hamburgers or something…"

He quickly scanned the area around him and found the perfect place to eat and sulk for a while…

"Welcome to Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant! Are you by yourself sir?"

"Yes."

The waitress: a girl with her head tied in a ponytail, a little ahoge that was kind of cute and a smiley face as a decorative ornament on her apron, winked at him as she heard his answer.

"Great! Please follow me."

She took him through the restaurant to a little two people table in the back of the place.

"Here you go."

He took a seat, and then took the menu the waitress handed to him.

"I'll be back in a few minutes for your order."

He looked at the girl go to the table next to him and then around the restaurant, the whole place was completely full and he was lucky enough to get the last available table.

"I was lucky…? That's not a good sign, not a good sign at all!"

"Excuse me."

Yet before he could begin to sulk properly, Kamijou was interrupted by a familiar girl standing right beside him.

"Himegami?"

The girl seemed surprised at him mentioning her name, but didn't say anything and just stared at him, long enough to make Kamijou uncomfortable.

"Eh…"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

It was only when she said those words that Kamijou noticed she wasn't wearing her usual clothes, or her iconic priestess costume; rather she was wearing the same uniform as Kazakiri Hyoka.

"Ah sorry, I just…"

"It's my hair isn't?"

Well it was true that Himegami's haircut did evoke the image of an ancient princess in Japanese mythology, but this was obviously not the reason Kamijou knew who she was.

"Yes… sorry…"

Given his circumstances though, accepting her explanation seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

"I see, you know a lot of people think I'm joking when I tell them that's my last name, but I… Oh sorry, how rude of me, I'm Himegami Aisa."

Then the girl made a little bow, this surprised the boy who quickly stood up in reaction and did the same.

"I'm Kamijou Touma."

"Nice to meet you, Kamijou-san."

"Same here Himegami-san. How can I help you?"

"Well you see Kamijou-san. I was wondering, since this place is full and you're by yourself… if you wouldn't mind I sat here and joined you for lunch."

After saying that, Himegami gave him a huge beautiful smile, and even with all the troubles that were haunting him, Kamijou had to admit that made his heart skip a beat.

"Yes… Sure…"

Immediately before he could finish accepting her proposal, the girl just said "Thank you." and sat in the chair opposite to him.

"At least she isn't asking for money because she's beautiful this time."

Kamijou sat back again and then moved to pick his menu, however since there was only one on the table, both occupants tried to get it at the same time, causing their hands to touch.

"Oh I'm sorry…"

"Never mind…"

He noticed Himegami blushed a little when he touched her.

"It seems we're going to have to share."

"Yeah…"

Kamijou placed the menu in the middle of the table and then moved his head towards the center; at the same time, the girl in front of him did the same.

"Have you eaten here before Kamijou-san?"

"Yeah, it was kind of different back then, but yes."

"Anything you can recommend me? I just got to this city from the countryside so I'm not familiar with the food from this place."

"Countryside…? Erm… Well I suppose the hamburgers are pretty good."

"Hamburgers…?"

He noticed the girl had a look of disappointment on her face.

"You don't like them?"

"No, I do… I was just expecting something more... You know, exotic."

A little drop of sweat when down the back of Kamijou's head as it finally dawned on him just how different was the Himegami in front of him from his Himegami.

"Well… there's a lamb burger with blue cheese and mushrooms."

"Lamb…? I think I want to try that."

He noticed the gluttony in Himegami's words as a little bit of droll made itself visible. But before he could say a comment about that, a female voice came from beside them.

"Are you two ready?"

It was the waitress, she eyed at Kamijou as if scolding him for lying about being alone.

"Such misfortune…"

Was all he could whisper to himself.

"I want to try the lamb burger."

"I'll take the classic."

"Understood! Would you like something to drink?"

"I want a soda, please."

Kamijou answered quickly while the girl hastily looked at the menu, as if she had forgotten she had to drink something.

"I think… I'll take some green tea."

"Ok… It'll be ready in a moment."

Then the waitress went away.

"Thanks a lot Kamijou-san. I'm surprised; my mother warned me that I should be careful around people from the city, but everyone I've met so far has been pretty nice."

"Well I won't tell you to be scared of everyone, but you should listen to your mother…"

Suddenly it hit him: Why was this Himegami so different from the girl he knew?

"Speaking about that Himegami-san, where are you from?"

She smiled as she played with her hair and eyed towards the direction the waitress left off.

"I'm from a little village near Kyoto. It's really small so I doubt you have heard of it."

If he remembered correctly Himegami's entire village had been wiped out by herself when a vampire turned the entire population into his kin. But this obviously wasn't the case now, so maybe…

"Nice place?"

"The best! I really love it! Everyone is like a big family, and I love them very much, that's why…"

If esper abilities don't exist in this world, then maybe Himegami's ability doesn't exist either.

"I decided to come to the city and study to become a doctor. The village is pretty far away from the nearest hospital and…"

And if 'Deep Blood' doesn't exist, then who can say that Vampires do either?

"I want to open a little clinic there and help everyone."

"Really? That's pretty noble of you."

"Oh, t'is nothing special ya hear me!"

Kamijou just stared at her, and then as she noted what he was doing she got terribly embarrassed as she noticed her neutral accent suddenly vanished for a second.

"I mean… it's nothing special really."

"Himegami… san, could it be you're actually a country bumpkin?"

"Of course not! It's just that when you live in the countryside the accent sticks to ya."

She instinctively covered her mouth embarrassed when she slipped again.

"Oh come on, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"But my mother told me people from the city make fun of people like me, that's why I spent so many sleepless nights practicing to speak like this."

"Himegami… does that mean you actually…" _'giggle'_ "…You actually practiced speaking with a neutral accent? _'giggle!' _Like I don't know, watching TV dramas and then acting them out with your friends?"

Kamijou had to muffle his laughter as she heard her whispering surprised: "how did you know?" and then turn bright red.

"Himegami? How rude! Mother was right, people from the city 'are' mean."

"Sorry, I'm sorry…"

But the girl would have none of it. She looked away from him, and pouted.

"I'm really sorry, ok? Plus it´s not your mannerisms I think are funny, if anything they make you cute. It's more how you try to hide them that it's just… hilarious." _'pffft' _

Kamijou was completely aware he wasn't helping his cause one bit with that muffled laughter, but he honestly couldn't help it.

"Cute…? I'm cute you say?"

But the boy's laughter stopped when he noticed the girl turned fifty shades of red, covered her mouth with her hand, and looked down to her skirt.

"Just be yourself, ok?"

The girl snapped back at his words and took a moment to regain her composure, and clean her throat.

"Well, if you're really sorry I guess I can forgive you… Kamijou."

"That would be great… Himegami."

They both laughed together for a short while.

"Oh my! What do we have here?"

But they were cut short when they noticed the waitress was back with their food.

"Here's your lamb burger, and the classic."

The girl with the apron placed all the food and drinks on the table and quickly went away.

"Ok, let's try this thing."

Himegami picked up the burger and quickly took a bite out of it.

"Wow! This is delicious."

The boy did the same thing and quickly remembered how hungry he was. It was funny how a good conversation could make people forget anything, but once these two started eating, not a single word left their mouth until they were done.

"I'm full."

The girl stretched her arms and then let them fall to her sides.

"Me too, I think they made this things bigger since the last time I was here."

"Really? Amazing!"

Then the girl shook her head and quickly checked her phone.

"Anyway Kamijou, I think we should ask for the check, I need to get going."

Kamijou just nodded at her.

"But first I'd like to have your number if you don't mind."

"Sure."

As the two of them exchanged numbers, Kamijou noticed that there was no one named 'Himegami Aisa' on his contact list, and going down the list it became obvious there were missing several others.

"Are you ok Kamijou?"

But he didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the issue.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Really? For a moment you looked really sad when you were checking your phone."

He just shook his head.

"It was nothing, sorry."

"Ok."

An awkward atmosphere was threatening to form around this two, but it was quickly dispelled by the sound of a little plate being dropped on the table.

"Here's your check."

Both of teenagers snapped out of it when they heard the voice of the waitress. Kamijou immediately reacted and tried to get his wallet.

"We should split this in half."

"Actually, about that Kamijou…"

Suddenly Kamijou braced himself for the worst, knowing his luck the words 'I left my wallet at home' would be uttered any time.

"I was thinking since you were so kind in letting me sit here, and you're the first friend I've made on the city… Well I wanted to invite you."

He couldn't help but to let go of his wallet and let it fall to his seat, this was the first time something like this happened to him ever since he could remember.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Well that's very nice of you Himegami, but I…"

But before he could argue with her, the waitress came back and unceremoniously took the little plate with Himegami's cash card on it.

"You can leave the tip if you want though, I don't have a lot of cash on me."

"Yeah sure."

Kamijou scrambled his wallet to pull out the appropriate tip, and then once he had it on his hand almost dropped it when she heard the girl in front of him giggling.

"What happened? Why are you giggling?"

"It's nothing I was just thinking about how lucky I am to meet someone like you Kamijou. Between you and the nuns I met earlier, I almost doubted what my mother said to me."

"Nuns? There were nuns in Academy City?"

The girl looked at him dumbfounded. It wasn't her fault though; someone like her would surely have no knowledge of the conflict between science and magic, and thus not found anything weird in finding nuns in Academy City.

"Yeah, they have a church and everything…"

"I see…"

Assuming said conflict still exists that is.

"You know I was nervous at first since I'm not a follower of their religion, but they were really nice to me and even gave me a few pointers."

"That's really nice… Listen could you tell me where is that church?"

"Sure, it's only a few blocks west from here."

In that moment the waitress was back with Himegami's cash card and receipt, they quickly left the place as it was still full and they didn't want to be a bother.

"Well Kamijou, it really was a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here."

"Also…"

The girl suddenly blushed bright red again and played with her fingers in front of her face.

"I was thinking… Since I don't know many people in the city… Could I call you to hang out together sometime?"

Kamijou smiled at her.

"Sure, anytime you want."

And in turn she returned his gesture with a beautiful smile of her own.

"Great! Now I must leave, I need to attend my evening classes."

"Ok Himegami, take care."

"Of course!"

The girl just nodded at him with a smile still shinning on her face, and then quickly turned around and left.

"That was nice…"

Kamijou immediately shook his head and then remembered the words Himegami said but a few minutes ago.

"_Yeah, they have a church and everything…"_

"She said it was a few blocks west from here."

There was no reason for him to go visit that place, yet the simple novelty of seeing a church filled with nuns inside Academy City made the trip worth it.

"And here it is."

It was a small building, notably smaller than any other church he had ever seen. Yet despite this the place seemed fairly opulent, with great golden decorations, and a massive stained-glass window that probably cost more than his entire room by itself.

"Can I help you sir?"

And just as he was about to step in, he was greeted by a single nun cleaning the entryway.

"Eh, nothing I just wanted to…"

The nun immediately noticed Kamijou nervousness and smiled at him. The blond girl seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place her.

"Oh is it the first time you're visiting our Church? Come on in…"

The girl stepped aside and made reverence. So formal Kamijou felt it would be rude if he didn't do as she said.

"Thank you…"

"No problem. Our next service starts in 30 minutes, please feel free to stay if you wish."

He entered the church and he was immediately wowed by it greatness. It was impossible to describe but the place seemed bigger and even more opulent on the inside: a giant cross made of gold, little stained-glass windows representing the fourteen stages of the cross, and a huge altar made of expensive looking marble.

"We've been getting lots of tourist ever since we reopened last month, mainly students that had never seen a church before…"

The nun had a huge smile from side to side of her face when she said those words, but their meaning was obviously not lost in Kamijou.

"Well I had seen a Church before, but this… This one is beautiful."

The girl nodded.

"Of course! Want to hear its story?"

While the boy though he had already studied enough history for a lifetime, he could feel the eagerness of the girl so he thought it would be rude to refuse.

"If you would be so kind."

For some reason Kamijou made a little reverence not unlike the one the nun did when she invited him in.

"It'd be my pleasure."

And humoring him, the girl responded in kind before starting with her explanation.

"This church was built when Academy City first opened its doors in 1958. The founder Sr. Edgar Alexander Crowley was not a believer of the Catholic faith, but he did believe that the city he was building should accept people from all faiths, so even on his first draft for Academy City he included at least one place of worship for all of the mayor religions. "

The girl kept walking through the church as he told him the story, forcing Kamijou to follow her.

"This place was chosen to house the Catholic faith. It was originally very humble, as the resources were tight during the construction, and since it was believed that there wouldn't be many people looking for a church in a city of science, they didn't even bother to give it a name."

Finally, the nun stopped when she reached the altar. This gave Kamijou time to appreciate the exquisite marble structure.

"And they were kind of right. There weren't many believers in the city at first; actually there have never been as far as I know… So while the church was always used as place of prayer by the few devouts that visited it, it inevitably deteriorated with time since we lacked the money for repairs."

Then the girls' smile turned even more warm, as if she was about to tell her favorite part of the story.

"It was then when one of the sisters from my congregation decided to make an effort to restore it. About two years ago she got a job as a waitress and donated 100% of her income to a fund for the restoration of the church. She was an inspiration for all of us, and soon everyone, even our former resident priest did the same… It was hard work since we had to attend to our duties inside the church as well, but nobody complained."

As she told her story, a couple of tears appeared on the edges of the girl's eyes.

"Of course the fact that so many nuns were working around the city made a lot of people curious, so we told them about our mission, and before we knew it we were receiving thousands of donations; many of them coming from people outside the faith. We received so much money we could've rebuild the entire church three times over if we wanted to, but the sister who started everything, said we should take what we needed, and donate the rest to a charity that helps orphan children in Academy City."

"But…"

"I know what you're thinking, but we did donate the money… It just so happened that our cause made it to both the Vatican and the City Administration, and in a joint venture between the two organizations they decided to lend us the labor force, and pay for the materials for the restoration of the church… Resulting in this beautiful temple you see now."

And beautiful it was, Kamijou had seen a few pictures of several of the world's greatest Churches, and while this one wasn't anywhere near as big, in terms of beauty it had nothing to envy to those places.

"And to remember the one who started everything, everyone decided to name this previously nameless church in her honor."

"That was a great history."

"Yes! I'll always be thankful to the people of Academy City."

Kamijou looked at nun in front of him, literally bouncing of happiness and then shook his head.

"By the way sir, might I ask for your name."

"Of course, I'm Kamijou Touma."

"Nice to meet you Kamijou-san, I'm Sister Lucia."

The boy froze as he heard that name, upon further inspection this was the girl he knew as sister Lucia, blond hair and blue eyes intact. It was amazing how a simple smile could make someone look so different, especially someone who's always frowning like her.

"Same here… Anyway Sister Lucia, I need to leave now, but before I do could I ask you something?"

"Sure Kamijou-san, anything you wish?"

"What is the name of the sister…? I mean what is the name of this church?"

The girl smiled again and closed her eyes. You could tell she enjoyed answering that question.

"This is the Holy Church of Orsola Aquinas."

"I knew it…"

But soon her face was filled with curiosity when she heard Kamijou's words.

"Huh? What do you mean Kamijou-san? If you knew it then why…?"

The sister got closer to Kamijou, her face being so close to his that it made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Erm… It's nothing…"

"What do you mean 'it's nothing'? It must be something, otherwise…"

"Sister Lucia, please don't bother our visitors…"

But she immediately pulled back when she heard a voice from behind her.

"I'm sorry Sister Agnese!"

And following said voice back to its source took you to a nun with red hair tied in braids Kamijou knew well, she got closer to Kamijou and bowed.

"I'm sorry for her behavior."

Embarrassed, Kamijou felt a cold drop of sweat going down the back of his head.

"It was nothing really."

"I see, thank you."

Both nuns bowed in unison, then as Sister Agnese was about to retreat. Sister Lucia seemed to get an idea.

"Kamijou-san, why don't you stay for our mass today? Sister Orsola will be officiating."

"Sister Lucia, I don't think he's interested in…"

"Actually, if you don't mind I would like to attend… I mean if it's ok with you…?"

Sister Agnese was taken by surprise by his comment, but quickly shook her head and regained her composure.

"Sure, everyone is welcomed in our church."

Sister Lucia smiled at him.

"Ok, we'll be back in a few minutes… please sit anywhere you like."

The boy picked a seat near the back of the church, and then as he waited more and more people entered the church. He didn't notice anyone he knew, but there were far more people that he would have guessed.

"Good afternoon."

Then just as he was starting to get bored, Orsola Aquinas entered the hall accompanied by a little nun he recognized as Sister Angelene, who helped her carry the stuff she would need for the mass. As Sister Orsola got behind the altar, the little nun gave her a cross necklace full of beads.

"We'll begin by praying the rosary."

Then the ceremony began… Kamijou had never been in a mass for as long as he could remember, but he did knew a few details thanks to his roommate's tendency to talk about magical rituals, ceremonies or anything that crossed her mind. The most important thing he remembered was that he should stand, seat, or kneel when everyone else did.

Truth be told, there was no reason for Kamijou to be in this mass… No there was no reason for him to be in this church at all. He just wanted to see with his own eyes if it could be true, if the conflict between magic and science didn't exist anymore.

It was a foolish thought though. The existence of a church inside Academy City proved nothing; but seeing all these people, happily attending mass in the city of science without a care in the world… As if it was the most natural thing to do… Then maybe it might just be true.

"The mass is ended, go in peace."

"Thanks be to God!"

He snapped out of his train of thought when he noticed everyone was leaving, Kamijou quickly decided to do the same and finally go home.

"Kamijou-san!"

As he was leaving, the boy found someone waiting for him at the door.

"Sister Lucia, what are you doing here?"

The girl smiled at him and then played with her fingers.

"I just wanted to know if you enjoyed attending mass today."

"Yeah, it was enjoyable; Sister Orsola is a good speaker."

"She is isn't she? Our former resident priest actually recommended her for the job, and everyone agreed she should do it."

"I see…"

Obviously he had paid the least amount of attention possible to the ceremony, but he had to admit he did found himself listening to her speech a few times.

"Anyway Kamijou-san, I just wanted to invite you to come again whenever you feel like it…"

The nun cleared her throat before saying her next words.

"I know you're not a believer in our church, but its doors are always open to anyone."

She made a small reverence again.

"Of course, but I don't know when I'll be able to come back…"

"Anytime you wish Kamijou-san, I'll be waiting for you."

The girl then smiled again and quickly said her goodbyes, getting back into the church to prepare for the next service. Upon seeing the image of the nun going back into the church, Kamijou could do nothing but to sigh.

"What am I supposed to do…?"

He shook his head and then turned towards the direction of his dorm.

"Is this because of the melancholy of a super powered high school girl? Or did I hit my head and fell into a coma…?"

The boy sighed as he walked, looking at the source of his misfortune in the form of his right hand.

"At least that would explain why my imagine breaker doesn't work…"

He touched his head again and gave another sigh, longer and stronger than the first.

"Those people on the church, they looked really happy."

Ever since he woke up in that hospital bed on that day, Kamijou never had much interest in religion, and since most of what he knew about it came from magicians or a certain magical index. He always thought of it as something extraordinary that defied his understanding of the world.

"I think I even saw a few people from my school, it was kind of nice."

So the most mundane part of it. The part of regular people showing their faith however they could was something he had never really seriously considered.

"What is this supposed to mean? Did the world mend itself when I wasn't looking? The only thing missing from this place are my lost memories."

He looked around the city and found a strange feeling… Many times had people complained that Academy City's light was only skin deep, that a horrible darkness lurked behind a fragile crust of brightness that could crumble at any minute, but that didn't seemed to be the case anymore.

There were no espers abusing their powers, no troublesome magicians running around, no vampires destroying the lives of his classmates, no apparent conflict between science and magic, and the most confusing part of everything was that the world seemed like a better place because of it.

As he walked through the city, this facts and conjectures paraded inside Kamijou's mind with no apparent solution: Why did everything change? Could it be reversed…? And more importantly, should he try?

"Argh! This is pointless…"

He sighed again, and then quickly looked at the source of his misfortune.

"Now that I think about it, if espers don't exist, and assuming magicians don't either… Then does my imagine breaker…?"

"Hey you!"

"Huh?"

The boy stopped dead on his tracks as he heard a voice he knew quite well coming from behind him.

"I finally found you… you know that was really sneaky of you; quitting while you're ahead."

Kamijou scratched the back of his head and sighed

"I knew it was you… Biri Biri."

"Hey… what's with that face? And isn't about time you started calling me by my name?"

"I've heard that one before…"

Standing right in front of him was the girl he knew as the third ranked esper of Academy City: Misaka Mikoto, clad in her characteristic Tokiwadai Uniform.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She looked at him visibly annoyed by his comment.

"Nothing much… Anyway what can I do for you Misaka-sama?"

He made a little bow, which unfortunately made him miss the moment the Tokiwadai's ace annoyance turned into anger.

"Stop that! I've come to settle our score once and for all."

"What do you mean with: settle our score?"

Kamijou honestly had no idea. Unless she happened to be the only person in this city who was still an esper, whatever score she wanted to settle was unknown to him.

"I told you to stop feigning innocence! As Academy City's number 3, I can't allow myself to let you walk away with a victory over me."

Maybe she was talking about Academics? Nah it couldn't be, she was still in middle school and… Well last time the boy tried to study with her, she ended up helping him with his homework.

"Prepare yourself!"

The girl then pulled out something from his bag, Kamijou braced himself as he noticed she pulled out a… Card deck?

"I modified the entire strategy of my Railgun deck just to beat your Illusion breaker. There's no way I can lose now!"

"So that's it?"

Kamijou felt a weight being lifted from his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Misaka-san; I don't have my deck with me…"

He could instantly notice the disappointment that appeared on the number 3.

"So it is true…"

And then that disappointment made a few tears appear on her eyes.

"I heard rumors about it, but is it really true that you are retiring?"

"Just what kind of… I mean yeah, I need to focus on school… I even sold my deck and everything."

Kamijou took a moment to lament the fact he was getting used to telling lies. That could wait for another time though, since as soon as he said those words the girl's deck slipped and fell to floor. Luckily there was no wind to blow the cards away.

"I… I… I see…"

The Tokiwadai's ace hastily picked up her cards and put them back into her bag.

"Sorry I've bothered you then."

Then immediately she turned around to flee.

"Wait!"

He grabbed the girl by her forearm before she could run away; he didn't really know why he did that though, for all he knew this was another Mikoto, different from the one he knew… But he did know stopping her was the right thing to do.

"What do you want? Let me go!"

The girl tried to get her arm free, but he held her tight.

"Listen, I know we can't play cards but… since you're here, want to join me for some coffee?"

Mikoto stopped struggling when she heard that, taking some time to calm herself before turning around.

"I would love to."

Her expression had gone back to something closer to the Mikoto he knew would have, but there was still something off about her.

"Perfect! I know of a place nearby where we can get some…"

Mikoto happily followed him, but as they made their way towards their destination, the ace began to notice they weren't going to the commercial district where all the great coffee shops were. They were entering a park instead.

"Wait a minute!"

Kamijou stopped right on the spot he was, wondering what had he done wrong this time.

"I thought you said you wanted to have a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, we can buy some on this vending machine."

The girl sighed.

"You need to learn how to…"

But she cut her sentence short when she noticed Kamijou was in the vending machine, buying their drinks and paying no attention her.

"Oy Misaka-san! Do you want hot coffee or iced coffee?"

Then she sighed again.

"Anything will do…"

"Hot coffee it is then!"

"You're so dense…!"

She whispered to herself.

"Huh? Did you say something Misaka-san?"

He offered the can of coffee to the girl.

"Nothing…"

She picked it up carefully as if to not burn her hand.

"We can sit here."

Then the boy pointed at nearby bench, the girl just nodded; as they got besides the bench, Kamijou did a reverence and stood aside.

"After you Misaka-san."

Mikoto on her part, being more annoyed than flattered just sighed.

"Misaka-san this, Misaka-san that… You know, I don't like it!"

"Erm! You don´t like… What Misaka-san?"

Kamijou was totally clueless of what Mikoto was thinking, and this only helped to make her annoyance even greater.

"Exactly that! You're my senior you know, you can drop the formalities."

The boy just stared at her in disbelief, unsure of what to do. Mikoto on her part just laughed.

"What's with that face huh? I'm telling you can call me M.i.s.a.k.a… Heck Mikoto is fine too if you wish. I'd even prefer it to avoid you finding another me and have a case of mistaking identity."

It's important to note she actually made a pointing gesture with her index finger each time she mentioned a letter when she spelled her last name…

"Erm… I mean… Sure Mikoto… But what do you mean finding another you?"

She surely couldn't mean… Maybe the SISTERS project still existed? In that case how did that even work if there was no Radio Noise to tie the MISAKA network together? Maybe…

"Oh, I've never tell you have I? I have two younger sisters just like me, we 're triplets."

Immediately she pulled out her phone and showed him a picture of her and two other girls just like her.

"Oh I see…"

"You know I love my sisters very much, but I don't like when people call me 'Misaka' because it can be confusing when everyone is together."

For some reason, the image of a teacher calling for 'Misaka-kun' to solve a problem on the blackboard, and three different girls standing up at the same time appeared on Kamijou's mind.

"I see. That must be really confusing."

Mikoto smiled at him.

"Right isn't it? And to make things even more confusing, the other two have this weird speech pattern when they say their names after every sentence… It's cute at first, but it gets annoying after a while and to make things worse the little one started to copy them."

"Little one?"

The ace made a surprised face and quickly whispered "Yeah, I forgot to tell you about her." Before searching on her phone for another picture, in this one there seemed to be three Misaka's just like Mikoto, a much younger Misaka, an older Misaka, a Misaka slightly older than the last, and a middle aged man.

"This is my dad; he's a really important person… I don't know exactly what he does, but mommy says he's correcting what is wrong in the world."

Mikoto became completely absorbed in the picture; it was easy to see she enjoyed talking about her family.

"This is my annoying older sister; seriously she's literally the WORST person you'll ever meet."

Now that he thought about it, Kamijou realized the Mikoto he knew was an only daughter, every single one of her sisters was nothing but a clone… and at least 10.031 of those clones were dead. He would never see his Mikoto talking like this about his sisters.

"This one in the middle is me, to my right is my sister Ichigo. She's the only one of us that doesn't live in Academy City, that's because she managed to skip a grade and got accepted into some high school in a town called Nishinomiya. Anyway, to my left is my other sister…"

"Hey you kids! What are you doing in our bench?"

But her explanation was cut short when they noticed a gang of thugs surrounding them.

"What seems to be the problem sir?"

Kamijou immediately stood up and tried to reason with them, something he thought would be ultimately useless but at least it let him buy some time to analyze the situation. There were five people in all and he could notice two of them carried what appeared to be knives in their pockets. Unfortunately for the boy with the imagine breaker, the disappearance of esper powers meant people were less likely to throw fireballs at him and more likely to have weapons.

"What do you mean what's the problem? That's our bench you and your little girlfriend are using."

Judging by the situation it seemed to Kamijou the wisest course of action would be to flee. Normally he could punch one of them and start running, chances are they would give chase, but with Mikoto right beside him that wasn't a possibility.

She wasn't the Tokiwadai Railgun anymore, just a regular middle school girl; so he couldn't just count on her to fry them if they didn't chase him.

"Useless…"

But Kamijou's analysis was cut short when he saw the figure of one of the thugs flying in front of him into the ground, and more importantly the figure of a regular middle school girl throwing a man more than twice her size without a problem.

"What are you doing? Run!"

Immediately after her judo demonstration, Mikoto grabbed Kamijou by his hand and ran through the opening caused by the thug falling, leaving the rest of the group behind them before they had a chance to know what hit them.

"What the heck was that?"

"Do you always have to ask stupid questions? Just run as fast as you can!"

And that they did. The boy didn't really had a way of knowing for sure, but he estimated they ran around two kilometers in ten minutes. They never even saw the thugs chasing them; they never had a chance to catch up after the first sprint.

"Hah…!" _pant! _"I think we lost them…"

Kamijou wasn't really exhausted, but he was visibly tired, his body was sweating like crazy and his breathing was still heavy.

"Yeah, so it seems… Lucky!"

Mikoto on her side looked as if she just had her morning jog.

"What do you mean 'Lucky'? Why did you do that?"

She giggled at him while she made a pose.

"You mean that throw and escape maneuver? I only thought that was the best course of action, I mean you were thinking of doing the same right?"

Looking at her Kamijou found no strength on his body to be mad at her.

"I was thinking a punch to the head would've done the trick just fine."

"I knew it! I can read you like an open book."

Mikoto made a little jump to celebrate her 'victory'.

"Just where did you learn to do that? I mean the judo stuff."

"Oh that? Daddy made everyone take self defense classes. I'm telling you those guys were lucky, my older sister carries a huge taser that can output more 10.000 volts and my younger sister a fully automatic rifle that shoots rubber bullets that hurt like hell."

"Oneesama!"

And just as he was finished recovering his composure, the couple was interrupted by another girl who looked just like Mikoto. They had the same face, body type, uniform and everything else, the only notable differences was the Mikoto wore a flower pin on her head, while the other one had a cute heart shaped necklace.

"Oh it's you…"

"Oneesama, what are you doing here…? Misaka inquires on the location of her sister."

Mikoto from her part just sighed.

"There's that speech pattern again. Can't you speak like a regular person for once?"

"No, it's my endearing character trait… Misaka explains the secret of her popularity."

"There you go again…"

A little drop of cold sweat when down through the back of Kamijou's head as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him. Seeing the Misaka sisters arguing so casually made him a little awkward to say the least.

"And what do you have to say Oneesama? Being out so late with…"

Suddenly Misaka Imouto stopped moving as she looked at Kamijou's face. Had the lighting been better, the boy would've seen a shade of redness slowly appearing on her cheeks.

"It's Misaka's savior… Misaka says as her heart skips a beat."

"Huh? What do you mean by that…?"

But she snapped out of it as soon as Mikoto called her attention.

"Nothing you should be concerned about Oneesama… Misaka says trying to hide her embarrassment."

Immediately Misaka Imouto grabbed her older sister forearm and turned towards Kamijou.

"Thank you for taking care of Oneesama Touma-kun, but we need to get going before mother gets mad at us… Misaka says noticing we have five minutes before curfew. I'll call you… Misaka whispers secretly."

Then she bowed and as she raised her head again. Kamijou could see how she quickly winked and blew a kiss at him.

"Hey why did you…? Wait a minute! Five minutes? Why didn't you say that in the first place? Let's run!"

Both sisters didn't even wait for Kamijou's response before sprinting away, getting out of his sight in less than a few seconds.

"Well, that was… Unexpected. '_Sigh!'_ I better go home now, before I get interrupted by some other alternate reality version of somebody that I used know."

The boy quickly checked his surroundings and found that in their sprint, he had gotten considerably closer to his dorm.

"Lucky… "

On his way home, Kamijou found absolutely no problems whatsoever, opening the door to his apartment less than fifteen minutes after saying goodbye to the Misaka sisters.

"I'm home…"

He took his bag and tossed it into his bed, and then he grabbed an empty cup from his cupboard.

"I need some cold water…"

As soon as he opened the door of his fridge, the cup fell to the floor.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

Kamijou's face turned pale as he noticed how his fridge was full of all kinds of food: meat, eggs, cheese, ham, anything one could think of was there.

"Don't tell me…"

He looked around the room, trying to find at least one sign of someone else being there, but it was all for naught.

"I guess I should've seen this coming."

The boy's shoulder's dropped as low as they could get before he gave one last sigh.

"I don't care anymore…"

And just like that, the boy simply tuned off the lights and went to sleep.

The next day started as usual, with a morning alarm that was just way to noisy. Kamijou woke up and looked around his bed, not really sure what to expect, the images of a dream involving himself and a few girls he knew crawling through dungeons with somewhat skimpy clothing still lingering on his mind.

"Index, are you in the…?"

But the bathroom door opened by itself, revealing that Kamijou Touma was in fact alone in his apartment.

"I guess not…"

He took a quick bath, and then prepared himself a generous Japanese breakfast with all of the bases covered.

"I made too much…"

The boy then sighed, and lazily put all the food he couldn't eat into the fridge, finally opening the door of his apartment to face the outside world.

"Good morning Kamiyan!"

Only to be greeted by his dark haired neighbor.

"Good morning Tsuchimikado…"

"What's with that face Kamiyan? The morning´s beautiful and the… Woah! What are you doing man?"

But the neighbor's cheerfulness was interrupted by Kamijou putting his right hand on top of his head for what appeared to be no apparent reason what so ever.

"It's still dark…"

"What you mean my hair? Of course it is! What other color would it be? It's been like this ever since I was born."

"You should dye it, I think blond would look good on you."

"You know, I was actually thinking about that the other day, but I don't know if…"

"Aniki!"

But Tsuchimikado was interrupted by the voice of a young maid coming from behind his door, before he had a chance to respond, the door opened.

"You forgot you lunch… Oh! Good morning Kamijou."

The maid gave him a gracious reverence and then gave her brother a huge lunchbox.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

With that, the little maid just gave a small bow and retreated back inside her brother's house.

"Anyway, as I was saying Kamiyan. I was thinking of dying my hair, but I don't think my sister would like it."

"I see… It must be nice, having a little sister living with you."

When he heard the boy´s words, a huge grin formed in Tsuchimikado's face, the kind Kamijou knew he was up to something.

"You have no idea Kamiyan… By the way have you thought about that mission I told you the other day?"

Suddenly Kamijou's face got brighter. After all it was true that esper powers disappeared from this world anymore, but that didn't mean Magic did too.

"What mission?"

"Don't you remember Kamiyan? I was planning on teaming up with the battle nuns and take on the God's right seat this weekend."

That sounded like something the Tsuchimikado Motoharu he knew would say, Kamijou's mind filled with joy; maybe there's some magician that knew what happened who could help him…

"That's why I need the help of a certain retired miracle player to…"

But of course, his illusions had to be broken.

"Wait a minute… Are you talking about card games?"

Tsuchimikado suddenly shook his head and his index fingers in a perfect rhythm.

"No no no no no Kamiyan, it's not just a simple card game… It's Academy Battle: Science is magic! Which is very different and much more exciting. "

"I'm retired…"

"Oh come on Kamiyan! Don't tell me you don't miss it? I mean just a few months ago you were playing against the number one in the city to get back that middle school girl's cat, don't you remember how awesome that was?"

"Not really…"

"No way Kamiyan! There's just no way that you don't remember! I mean just that move when you played the ultimate nullifier against his vector redirection was simply insane."

"Can't say I remember that."

"Don't lie…"

This routine was repeated over and over again until they reached school, and a couple of times after that.

"Good morning everyone."

Once in his classroom, Kamijou had to deal with the consequences of his behavior yesterday. Nothing particularly worse than a few stares and maybe a couple of harsh words, at least until his teacher decided to talk to him.

"Kamijou-chan, I heard yesterday you got into an accident and hit your head… Are you ok now?"

"Yeah, I still got a light headache but I'm fine otherwise."

The little pink haired teacher let out a sigh of relief upon hearing those words.

"I see… That's great Kamijou-chan, the nurse told me she feared you might have gotten permanent damage to your head, and that you were lucky your cranium didn't get fractured."

"What do you mean permanent damage?"

"Anyway, I was thinking about it and I decided to let you repeat yesterday's test after school tomorrow. I shouldn't be doing this Kamijou-chan, but considering the circumstances I believe it's the right thing to do."

"Thank you very much Komoe-sensei… Now about that permanent damage thing we were talking about…"

"So I hope you take this opportunity to study for the test this time."

After saying that, the little teacher didn't even wait for an answer and just moved on to her class.

"Such misfortune…"

Kamijou spent the entire morning in school. It felt awfully familiar to him, the lack of esper powers didn't seem really an issue, and most of the class dynamic was pretty much intact… To be perfectly honest, at the end of the day he felt that the lack of Himegami made for a much pronounced difference.

"I suppose she must be at her school…"

He glanced at the empty spot that used to be hers; for what he could gather from his classmates, it seemed that was the seat of Suzumiya Haruhi nowadays.

"And I suppose she must be doing idol stuff."

But regardless of who owned the seat, the boy felt it was it being empty that bothered him the most.

"I guess it's not like being in the same classroom with Suzumiya-san is something new, I mean just a month ago I was with her and…"

Suddenly Kamijou got an idea, a little glimmer of hope that could help him make sense of what happened to the world.

"Maybe… Kyon-san!"

It was a chance in a million, but he did remember him telling him that he was used to stuff like this happening, so maybe…

"I wonder if I still got his phone number… I think I saw it yesterday…"

He hastily pulled out his phone, checking his contact numbers until he find just the one he needed.

"Lucky…! I´m getting used to this and that's not good."

The boy lamented his misfortune once again before sending him a message: _"Did the world changed for you too?"_ He would've preferred calling, but he was still in class.

"Please open your textbooks in page 210."

It seemed like he got something to do while he waited for an answer. He quickly pulled out his copy of 'History of Academy City' and opened it on the indicated page.

"_The level scale as a way to measure the strength of the ability of an esper was first established in…"_

"What is this?"

Kamijou hastily did a double take, checking out every page of the book he was holding until he finally got to a simple conclusion.

"Could it be…? I was holding this book during the whole night… This is it!"

"Erm… Kamijou-chan!"

But he was quickly brought back to reality by his teacher. Then he shrank a little when he looked around the classroom and noticed everyone's eyes were fixed on him.

"What is it Komoe-sensei?"

"I'm happy you enjoy history lessons, but could you please be quiet."

He just gave a little nod and buried his face into the book.

"Such misfortune…"

Before laughing to himself, and keep on reading his book. He never would've thought the history of Academy City… The real Academy City could be such an enjoyable read.

It was only a few minutes later when he heard it: 'Bleep!' the little sound that indicated his phone got a message, and luckily for him it was from the person he expected.

"_Somewhat… Is it the same in Academy City? Is Haruhi over there? Do you remember everything?"_

A drop of cold sweat went down the boy's head as he read the message; it seemed he wasn't the only one suffering through this situation.

"_Yes, yes and yes."_

He simply answered his questions.

"Lucky!"

Their conversation was brief and to the point, the boy from North High hadn't really given Kamijou any specifics, most likely because he didn't knew them himself. But they agreed to rendezvous in his apartment later tonight.

"I hope Kyon-san doesn't have problems getting here."

Luckily for them it seemed this new Academy City had much laxer requirements for someone to enter… Or at least that was Komoe-sensei told him when he interrupted her class just to ask that question.

"She didn't take that too well…"

But it mattered not. For the first time in nearly a day and half Kamijou felt relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and just as the final bell marked the end of school for the day, Kamijou Touma began his route back to his apartment.

The boy walked down the street about as fast as he could. He just messaged the boy from North High with his address and he should be on his way now.

"I hope we can figure this out together. Man I was so lucky to still have his phone numbers with so many people missing."

He put his phone back into his pocket and then just enjoyed the scenery as he walked back home. It was amazing how commuting through Academy City every day made someone forget just how stunning this place could be.

It was on this very same route that Kamijou spotted the same dark haired boy he saw with Mikoto's little sister yesterday. He was sitting alone in a bench that just so happened to be in the way of the boy's route. The spiky haired boy wondered whether or not it was good idea to talk to him, especially after what Tsuchimikado told him happened between the two.

"Hmpf! What do you want?"

But as he was making himself those questions, the dark haired boy spotted Kamijou looking at him.

"Can I seat here?"

At the very least, Kamijou thought he could try to talk to him. If he was correct with his assumptions, this dark haired boy was supposed to be Academy City's number 1: Accelerator.

"Heh! I don't care, do as you wish!"

He sat besides the dark haired boy, unsure about how to start a conversation. In the few seconds of uncomfortable silence that followed, he quickly noticed the physical differences between the Accelerator he knew and this one.

His hair was a dark shade of brown that was near black, close to the one Tsuchimikado had; meanwhile his skin was somewhat darker or at the very least not anywhere near as pale as before. He remembered someone theorizing that Accelerator's albino like appearance was because he used his vector redirection to deflect the sun's radiation since he was little, so this is probably what he would like if he didn't… He still looked a little bit like a wimp though.

"I heard you're retiring."

And just as he finished his assessment, the dark haired boy spoke to him about the same thing Tsuchimikado had been bothering him this morning.

"Yeah, I even sold my deck and everything."

He heard a small grunt coming from the dark haired boy.

"Quitting while you're ahead? Coward!"

"It's not like that; I just need to focus on my studies and…"

"Whatever your reasons got nothing to do with me, but… I suppose I'll regret not having the chance for a rematch."

Accelerator giggled to himself, and then stood up.

"Still I suppose I should be thankful. Thanks to you I was able to detect the weakness of my vector redirection deck, plus…"

The number 1 looked away as he said his following words.

"That penalty of babysitting that little girl… The brat is annoying, but I suppose it has helped me mature somewhat, so…"

Finally he turned around and bowed.

"Thanks a lot Sempai!"

"You're welcome."

Accelllerator nodded satisfied at his answer and quickly turned around and left. Leaving Kamijou behind as he wondered why he even humored him.

"I guess it was just the right thing to do…"

"Excuse me sir, could you help me with some directions?"

Immediately as the number 1 esper was leaving the scene, Kamijou was surprised by a voice he knew quite well. He slowly turned around hoping to find exactly what he did, a little silver haired nun named Index. She wasn't dressed with her iconic white and golden habit though; rather she wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a green shirt and an unbuttoned blue sport jacket that was almost the same color as her jeans. This combined with a subtle but still noticeable amount of make-up in her face and the way she tied her beautiful long hair in a braid made her look completely different from the nun he knew.

"Index!"

Learning nothing from his experiences with the other Himegami, he blurted out her name as soon as he saw her. However her reaction couldn't be more different from that of the other girl.

"_Indekusu…? Is that a word for foreigner? Or maybe it's a greeting? "_

The nun said something in English and then pulled out a little book from her jacket titled: 'Common Japanese Idioms'; quickly flipping through it for a while before getting visibly frustrated.

"_I can't find it! Did I miss it the first time around? Oh well, I guess I'll research it later."_

"Erm, sorry can I… "

"I am trying to reach… _wait that should be… _find this hotel."

The nun handed him a piece of paper which was a pamphlet of a hotel, reluctantly the boy took it and tried to make sense of the situation.

"This hotel is on school district 3, and we're in district 7 right now. You need to take a bus that'll get you there."

Index looked at him with a face that told him that she didn't understand a single word she said.

"Sorry, I'll speak slower… The hotel is on district 3. You need to take a bus."

She listened carefully before nodding.

"Got it, thanks a lot sir."

The nun looked around the street she was on, before turning to Kamijou once again.

"Might I ask where could I find a bus stop nearby?"

The boy gave a little sigh before speaking to her slowly once again.

"It's a little complicated, I'll take you there."

The girl only needed a fraction of a second to understand his words this time; she smiled and nodded at him.

"Thanks a lot sir…?"

"I'm Kamijou Touma."

"Nice to meet you Touma-san, I'm… _Wait, that's his first name isn't it? I screwed up…_"

He noticed the girl looking down. He couldn't quite get her English earlier, but he had an idea of what could be bothering her.

"It's okay. You can call me Touma if you wish."

"I see, thank you very much."

"No problem. You should be careful though; some people will think it's rude if you skip formalities just like that."

"Of course, I will be careful from now on Touma."

The girl nodded at him once again with a smile.

"So shall we go now?"

"Please."

"Ok, follow me please."

The girl nodded again and did as she was told, it seemed she did know Japanese well enough, but had troubles understanding when people spoke to her. At least that was the conclusion Kamijou arrived after their small conversation.

"First time in Academy City?"

"Yeah, I won a vacation trip in the church's fund raiser."

"That was very lucky."

"Incredibly lucky! I have been studying Japanese for a few years now, and I never thought I'd have a chance to visit this country."

"Really, where are you from?"

"I am from the United Kingdom."

Kamijou glanced to his side and noticed Index casually strolling with a smile on her face. Luckily for him it seemed once she relaxed her Japanese started to flow much better.

"I see… Well welcome to Academy City…"

"Thank you very much."

"Granted, this is not exactly Japan."

The girl pouted a little, but otherwise her attitude remained the same.

"I know that, but it is as close as its going to get for me for now."

"And I hope you enjoy our city, did you arrive today?"

"Yeah, they sent my baggage directly to the hotel from the airport, so I thought I should do some sightseeing."

"And then you got lost."

He noticed a couple of veins appearing on the nun's forehead.

"Yeah, I did…"

And with that discovery, Kamijou wisely thought to change to theme of the conversation.

"So, are you interested in Japanese culture? I mean since you were taking classes…"

Luckily for him it worked, and those veins disappeared from her forehead as quickly as they appeared.

"Well kind of… Originally I just wanted the extra credits and I thought Japanese would be more fun than the other options, but once I started learning about it I did became more and more interested on it."

"I see…"

Suddenly the girl's eyes got all misty as she played with her index fingers pushing them tip to tip.

"But it is kind of hard, there is a lot of stuff to remember and I always get nervous and forget the details. This morning I misread a couple Kanji in a menu and ended up having to eat rice cakes for lunch, then I messed up my pronunciation and I think I somehow insulted the waitress, because she got really upset when I tried to tell her what I really wanted to eat… It was not a fun meal."

A drop of cold sweat when down Kamijou's forehead as he heard Index speaking, it was as if her Japanese got better the more they talked, and he found out that as long as he kept his pronunciation clean and didn't use the most complicated words she could understand him just fine. With just their short conversation he ended up with the conclusion that this Index actually had a great understanding of spoken Japanese, but her nervousness got the better of her. This also meant that this Index probably didn't have a photographic memory either.

"I can imagine that, listen… Mind if I ask you something about your church? I mean I'm assuming you're an Anglican right?"

Suddenly a huge smile appeared across her face.

"That is correct Touma, more specifically I am part of the Church of Necessarius."

As she said that Touma froze, so far he had seen how esper powers were nowhere to be seen on this world, but he wasn't really sure if magic still existed, so maybe if she…

"It is a special branch of the Anglican Church that has people from all religions coming together to try a do what's necessary to make a better world through charity."

Or maybe magic didn't exist either. Of course Kamijou knew her words weren't really proof since she could be hiding her true identity or be living outside the influence of the magic side… But since magicians lived in hiding, then how could he ever be sure if they still existed?

"That's sounds very… nice."

He expected the little nun to smile, but instead her face changed to something that could only be described as melancholy.

"It does sound nice, but I am not really sure we are actually doing anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Touma, have you ever wondered why the world is the way it is?"

"Well, sometimes but I…"

"The world is the way it is because people made it that way. Nearly everything in the world whether good or bad, is like that because that the way society evolved over our history."

Kamijou was unsure to tell her the world used to be very different for him a couple of days ago, but seeing Index so engrossed in her speech made him stay quiet.

"Simply putting a band-aid over a problem does not make it disappear; only getting to the root of the issue and solving it is the only way to really make a change. The things we do at Necessarius are like that, we do not really solve anything, just help at whoever we can."

It was in this moment where Touma could see just how different this Index was from his Index. They both had their hearts in the right place, but this one had a more down to earth personality that somehow clashed with the more childish Index he knew.

"But even if you can't change anything, you just can´t ignore it."

The girl giggled, keeping a sad smile over her face.

"Of course, even if it is just one person I would like to help whoever I could, but I just… I… I would love to live in a world where bad things didn't happen."

As soon as she made her declaration, silence reigned between the two. It was only a moment later, when the uncomfortable silence made the girl embarrassed that she quickly shook her head and tried to improve the mood.

"What am I saying Touma? Sorry for bothering you like that."

"No… Its okay, listen the bus stop is right there."

The girl turned around and noticed the little shack, and also that was a bus was about to arrive.

"And if I'm not mistaken, that one should take you to your hotel."

"I see… Thank you very much Touma, listen before we part ways could I ask you for your number."

"Erm… Sure!"

They quickly exchanged numbers, and in a twist of fate, Kamijou noticed the number of this Index and his Index were the same, something completely improbable since her phone line was surely from the UK.

"Thank you, you are the first Japanese person I have ever met, so I would love to stay in contact."

"Sure, anytime you want."

"Well then, I must leave now Touma."

"Take care."

Index nodded at him with a cute smile, then she turned around and ran towards the bus, leaving Kamijou alone in the middle of the street, once the bus was out of sight, the boy dropped his head.

"A world where bad things don't happen… Kind of like… This one?"

**A certain dormitory:**

I must admit I was pretty surprised when I woke up a couple of days ago and found that the world had changed during my sleep. I was just like a movie I saw once, I believe it was called: The Disappearance of… of… I can't remember the whole title, but it was pretty good, so check it out if you can.

Granted there were a few differences, for an example when the main character in that movie had to look for the heroine, he didn't end up having to take a two hour trip to a city that technically wasn't even in the same country.

It was a pretty strange coincidence, just as I was about to give up searching for her, I get a message from Touma of all people who tells me she's in Academy City of all places… Granted, with all that happened so far, I suppose I should've seen this coming.

Luckily for me, this version of Academy City is considerably friendlier to outsiders, and they easily sold me a two day visa to stay for tourism, hurray! Now if only everything else had been just as easy. I had a lot of trouble moving around the city, since the last time I was here the guides didn't tell us much about public transportation other than it operates by itself, and there's also the fact that once I finally arrived at Touma's apartment he wasn't home.

What to do? What to do? I tried calling him but the call wouldn't connect and he doesn't seem to be getting my messages. I suppose I should wait for him, but I don't think hanging around suspiciously in an apartment block is good idea, let me think… Oh! Isn't this place close to that park I went with Haruhi? I'm not really sure, but I think going there and back for a drink beats standing here until Touma get's home.

…

Turned the park was a little farther away than I thought it was, but it doesn't really matter I guess. The sun was already setting when I spotted the familiar looking vending machine in the distance. Seeing that thing somehow brings bad memories of something that happened not too long ago, but I hope this one won´t transport me to a different dimension or something.

"Such misfortune…"

Huh! I heard a familiar voice coming from beside the machine, and a quick look revealed to me that it was the person I've been looking for slumped over a bench looking all tired. I decided to buy some coffee from both of us and then approached him.

"Hey Touma!"

He raised his head slowly, and I could notice his face looked terrible: all tired and sad. Upon seeing me both of those emotions left his face though, but there was still a hint of melancholy lingering.

"Kyon-san…"

"Some coffee?"

I gave him one of the cans I got and he took it without a thought, but instead of opening it, he kept it on his hands to get some warm.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I took the chance to sit next to him. There was a brief moment of uncomfortable silence after that before he spoke to me.

"Kyon-san… What is going on?"

"I'm not really sure. I suppose it has something to do with Haruhi, but I honestly got no idea."

"Suzumiya-san? Figures, I suppose I should've seen that coming."

"But I got a message from one of my friends…"

"You got a message? You mean to tell me there are other people who remember the world from before besides us?"

"Well not exactly. It's from the girl you say it's an Angel, but she's completely different now… It seems before the changed she managed to leave me a message."

I handed him the bookmark I got from the literature club copy of 'The Fall of Hyperion', he looked at it for a few seconds and then read it aloud.

"Program run condition: Collect the keys. Deadline: Two days later."

Then he gave it back to me.

"What is this supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I think that if I manage show this message to Haruhi we can figure out how to turn the world back to how it used to be."

"Turn it back…"

It was weird, as soon as I mentioned that, Touma slowly shrank on his seat, and the little melancholy I spotted before grew deeper on his face.

"You know Kyon-san: there are no espers on this world, and I think there is no magic either."

"Really?"

Well I suppose I should've seen that coming, back in North High's literature club the Ichigo-san who was with Nagato didn't seem to have her powers.

"You know there's a girl I knew back in the previous world. She had a special ability and someone forced her kill her entire family and her whole village with it, thanks to that incident she suppressed her emotions and suffered a lot… But here she never had to kill anyone. She's just a happy country girl looking to become a doctor to help the village she murdered in her other life"

I see… Wait, why are you telling me this Touma?

"… And she's not the only one, there's another girl I know who had to live with the burden of thousands of her clones being slaughtered by someone. Here the whole thing is like a bad dream, her clones became her sisters and now she lives happily with a huge family… Even the one who did the slaughter is better off, now he's just a kid who plays a lot of card games, but his heart is in the right place."

Touma shrank even more.

"And there's this other girl… Back in our world she was really childish and never acted her age. Her church forced her to remember some horrible books that could destroy her mind, and then they wiped out her memories every year to prevent her from knowing too much, so she never had a chance to grow up naturally… Here she's an honest girl that seriously tries her best to make the world a better place."

…

"Ever since I can remember all I wanted to do was become a hero, to help people that need to be saved… But is it not better to have a world where people don't need to be saved? Where heroes just aren't needed anymore?"

"So what are you trying to tell me Touma? Do you think this world is fine? That we should do nothing and stay in this world?"

"It's not like that, but I…"

"Listen, of course I know what you're talking about… This is a world that's not chained into will of one person, but don't you think the people we left behind deserve better? Don't you think the Index-san or the Misaka-san we left behind deserve some happiness too?"

…

"Don't get me wrong, I kind of like this world… But this is just an illusion, and aren't you always saying that illusions must be broken? What happened with that?"

I don't remember at which point in that conversation we stood up, neither who threw the first punch, but before I knew it Touma's right hand was deep into my stomach while I returned the favor with mine into his collarbone.

I moved my head to my left to evade a jab of his aimed to my face, I tried to counter with a hook that managed to hit him slightly on his side, but he brushed it off and hit me square on the jaw with a right upper that hurt like hell.

There wasn't really any malice in our punches though; rather I believe they were the culmination of the stress we had build up during this last two days that just needed to vent itself somehow. I don't remember exactly for how long they went on either, the next thing I knew was that we both had our right hand clenched into fists buried into the other face, and then we collapsed on the floor at the exact same time.

…

"You have a mean right Kyon-san…"

"You too, my guts will be remembering it for a while… Touma"

"I can understand that feeling…"

"No seriously… Do you fight a lot? Your punches were really sharp, and trying to hit you was like catching a fly."

"Hey, I might not look like it but I street fight a lot, so I got a lot of experience… It comes with the job."

"As expected of a hero I guess."

"But what about you Kyon-san? You don't have a good technique per se, but you have good reflexes and when you do hit, you hit like a truck."

"Hey, you don't spend training everyday in hell without gaining something."

"I see Kyon-san."

"You know, you've been calling me Kyon-san since we met each… Drop the formalities, it's not like it's my real name anyway."

I could hear a soft laugh coming from where he was laying, and then I could see Touma standing up and after spending a few seconds stretching himself he moved next to me and offered me a hand.

"Need a hand Kyon?"

"Thank you."

I sat up to take on his offer and felt pain equivalent to saying that my entire body screamed in horrible anguish and misery for being hurt like never before. Then when I grabbed his hand and stood up I felt pain equivalent to saying that the past sentence was a huge hyperbole.

Still regardless of my condition of extreme suffering, the most important thing I had to do was asking a question to the person in front of me.

"So what are you going to do Touma? I need to talk to Haruhi and I have no idea where to even begin looking… I can't do this without you."

He looked at me for a while and sighed.

"I guess you need to be saved Kyon… I don't know if I can do much, but you can count with the help of this Kamijou Touma."

He made a fist in front of him.

"It's the least a hero could do."

I did the same as him and then we bumped our fists into each other.

"Thanks a lot Touma."

"No problem."

"So what do we do now?"

Touma turned around and began walking back towards his apartment.

"Well I doubt we can do much at this hour, so the best we can do is trying to sleep. Tomorrow we'll search for Suzumiya-san. You know she's a student at my school but she didn't come to class today…"

"So then how are we going to find her?"

I followed him and noticed how he smiled to himself.

"Whether or not she comes to school doesn't matter, she's an idol in Academy City. That means somebody somewhere has already leaked her schedule for the next few days online, and I know just the guy we can ask for that information…"

He talked me about it all the way back to his apartment. Turns out there's a huge underground, online network dedicated to stalk… I mean admire idols from the distance and that Taniguchi 2.0, I mean that guy with the blue hair and the piercings was knee deep into the whole thing.

"I see, thank you Aogami."

…

"Yeah sure I owe you one… Bye!"

Touma hanged up his cell phone and the turned to me.

"Found anything?"

"Yeah, I had to nag him a little, but he promised to help us. Now rumors say that coincidentally Suzumiya-san doesn't have anything scheduled for tomorrow. According to Aogami that means she's planning to go to school, but he's looking to confirm that information and he'll call me again when he does."

"Going to school huh? How lucky…"

Touma scratched the back of his head when he heard those words.

"Yeah, ever since the world changed it's been like that. I'm trying not to get used to it though."

In that moment I remembered Nagato's theory of how Touma's unluckiness was born. According to her, Haruhi unconsciously made situations unlucky for him because she couldn't affect him directly with her powers. So it stands to reason that in a world where Haruhi was a regular high school girl, Touma unluckiness disappeared.

"By the way Touma, does your right hand still…?"

"Hell if I know…"

Touma looked at his right hand for a while before smiling.

"Then again in a world where the supernatural doesn't exist, my imagine breaker has no purpose either."

"I guess you're right…"

"Either way, that doesn't matter… "

In that moment Touma was interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing, he immediately picked it and answered it.

"Hey Aogami that was fast…"

…

"Sure, just give me a second."

Touma pressed a button on his phone and placed the call on speaker.

"_Ok, Kamiyan… Listen I was able to confirm my sources and it seems that Suzumiya-san will go to school tomorrow."_

"Great!"

"_Now, usually I would object to someone trying to interfere with an Idol's life, but since it's you asking me Kamiyan I'll make an exception. With that out of the way I know you guys are thinking charging ahead before or after school and try to talk to her…"_

Well that sounds good.

"_But chances are that'll only get her lovely bodyguard to hit you with a German supplex, or mauled to death by her rabid fans before you get to say the first word. What you need to do is…"_

We spent the entire night that day preparing our strategy to meet with Suzumiya Haruhi. The guy with the blue hair actually came up with a good plan, so I suppose he's far more reliable than I thought at first, at least this version of him that is…

The next day after a quick breakfast courtesy of Touma, we put our plan in motion. It was pretty simple: The guy with the blue hair and the piercings would get me a position as a substitute driver of Haruhi's limo… A good plan that in normal situation would be hampered by my inability to drive a car, but since this is Academy City the place where cars can drive by themselves then that was a moot point.

Well there was another thingy though. He naturally demanded some payment from his services, but instead of money he wanted Touma to get back at playing some card game or something for a plan he had with a friend of his… A weird request I know, but Touma told me we should just roll with it.

But anyway, I'm getting off the point… Fact is that now I'm in front of a huge apartment building, the kind that so luxurious a month of rent must cost more than my house; waiting for Haruhi with a huge limo I barely even know how to operate.

As I waited I remembered another important thing I did yesterday. Check out this Haruhi's back-story on the internet. Apparently she earned an scholarship to Academy City as soon as she got out of middle school and then became an idol shortly afterwards. But the thing that called my attention was the lack of detail from her life before coming to this city, there was barely anything worth mentioning. Except for references to a certain incident I happen to remember…

You know is kind of weird, there isn't anyone around here. Usually you would expect the paparazzi or her fans to be around, but this whole place is deserted except for me, and well… I just can't shake the felling there's hundreds of eyes fixated on me right now, I mean I'm positively sure I'm being watched…

Either way, there's no time for that I guess... As now the person I know as Suzumiya Haruhi is coming out of the gates of her condo… She surprisingly looks just like the Haruhi I know, exception being that she still had long hair.

"Who are you?"

And before the idol even glanced at my direction, I was surprised by someone I know recognize is Kanzaki-san and… Koizumi?

"Easy Kanzaki-san, I was informed that Arakawa-san would be taking a leave of absence today… This must be the replacement the agency sent."

"Ye… Yeah."

For some reason the cat got my tongue, and with cat I mean Kanzaki-san. Even if she isn't a magician anymore she still can be really threatening when she looks like she's about to kill you… Also I must comment I don't like how this one ties her hair in a bun; ponytails are more suited for her in my opinion.

"Great, might I see your ID then?"

As for Koizumi… Well he looked like Koizumi I guess, and for I could see he acted like Koizumi too.

"Su… Sure!"

I pulled out the little card they gave me yesterday when I entered the city and gave it to him. Immediately Koizumi scanned it with her cell phone. Now let's see if I can really trust that guy with the blue hair and the piercings.

"Ok, seems we're fine Mister..."

Amazing!

"Oh! What happened with Arakawa-san?"

And just as I was out the spotlight, who better to approach me than the idol herself?

"Yeah, I was told his first grandson would be born today ma'am."

Easy… Jjust like I rehearsed last night… Why must I be so bad at lying under pressure?

"Really? Great! Well let's go to school then Mister…?"

"My name is… John Smith."

**A Certain High School:**

Kamijou Touma quietly studied on his desk. Komoe-sensei was giving literature class, but that wasn't what he was reading… Rather he was studying a little hand book he found in his apartment: the instruction and rule book of 'Academy Battle: Science is Magic!' with annotations done by someone he theorized must have been himself from this dimension.

"This game makes no sense…"

"Hey did you hear?"

He took a break from his desperate attempt to humor a promise he made, to listen to the whisperings going on around his class. At least that would help him clear his mind.

"What is it?"

"It seems Suzumiya-sama was going to come to school today."

"But she's not here…"

"Exactly, it seems she got distracted by someone from her past and disappeared."

He smiled a little when he heard that, it seems whatever plan that boy from North High had to get the idol's attention worked.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Rumors say that when she met with him she canceled all her appointment for today and some sources say they saw her limo leaving the city sometime before noon."

The boy estimated that if they had left Academy City a little before noon, they would have reached North High about half an hour ago at most.

"But who is person? Do we know anything about him?"

"All we know is that someone who was keeping watch to her condo today said his name was J…"

'_Bleep!'_

But Kamijou eavesdropping was interrupting by the sound of his phone getting a message. He quickly pulled it out and checked the screen…

"It's from her… Huh?"

Before he could respond though, Kamijou noticed everyone around him seemed to have frozen. He tried to move as well and quickly noticed he couldn't… He was conscious, but his body just wasn't moving, not even blinking or breathing. But he didn't choke nor did his eyes become dry, it was as if time itself had stopped so such thing just weren't a concern anymore. There was a part of him that he could still move though: his right hand.

It was still holding his phone and in his desperation he let go of it, but it didn't fall. It was as if it was suspended in time, even the screen had stopped updating, but just as he picked it up again, the phone worked normally again.

Unfortunately he wasn't in a position to touch the rest of his body so his wrist and fingers where the only joints that seemed to work. He tried to struggle but it was simply impossible for him to reach something, maybe if he could touch his desk then…

"Calm down Kamijou-san."

But suddenly he heard a familiar voice coming from behind; it was the girl that used to stalk him on his world: Emiri Kimidori. He tried to speak with her but his mouth couldn't move, he couldn't even grunt as his vocal cords seemed to be stuck.

"You're a weird one Kamijou-san… The other one was deliberately left alone by her, but you… "

He felt Emiri's arms embracing him from behind, and her face resting at the side of his.

"Not even stealing her powers she could move you… That's really impressive."

She didn't seem to be breathing, at least Kamijou couldn't hear her doing so.

"Even then I guess you really weren't the main character of this story, you weren't even there for the conclusion… But you don't seem to care about that."

She tightened her embrace around Kamijou, pressing her face against his neck.

"I'm not one to talk though; I think I completely disappeared until now."

She changed positions so her arms were around her neck and her head on top of his.

"Hehe! I don't get many chances to come this close to you Kamijou-san…"

She remained like that for less than a second, but for Kamijou it felt as if an eternity had passed in the blink of an eye.

"…But I guess everything has to end eventually."

Suddenly he felt her arms and face disappearing from his body, and then he felt his lung feeling with air, his eyes blinking and the world around him moving again.

'_Gasp!'_

He looked around and noticed Komoe-sensei was teaching her class as usual, walking by Himegami's seat… And Himegami was there listening to the lesson and taking notes, he turned around and saw a blond Tsuchimikdo smiling with mischief and typing something into his phone. In the back he could see Emiri Kimidori standing near the wall smiling at him, and a little nun peaking through the backdoor waiting for her time to go inside the classroom.

"He did it!"

Kamijou was about to stand yelling in celebration, but just as he was about to do so a quick stare from Komoe-sensei putted him back into his seat.

"Such misfortune…"

But that wasn't enough to wipe the smile out of his face, a few tears appeared at the edges of his eyes but he quickly wiped them off. It was in that moment he noticed he was still holding his phone… The message he just received still being showed on the screen.

"But how…? Wait a minute, I was holding my phone the whole time when… It makes sense I guess."

He read the message again and again, before deciding to save it permanently.

"That illusion… I'll remember it."

"Well that's everything for today."

He noticed the bells were ringing and everyone stood up to leave. Kamijou stood up to do the same, but he was unable thanks to his teacher was standing in front of him.

"Kamijou-chan, I hope you haven't forgotten that I told you we would repeat the history test today after school."

"You did say, but that was… Wait a minute…"

He looked at his phone again and noticed the date matched with the time he spent in that other world, and he had signal so his phone must have synchronized by now, so then how…

"Well then get back into your seat! Sensei has to get home early today so we need to start right away."

The little teacher hurried him back into his seat and then quickly gave him a piece of paper.

"You have two hours Kamijou-chan, good luck!"

He looked at the test in front of him before coming into a realization.

"I used to know all these questions…"

But with everything that happened and since he had spent the entire morning studying a card game, his memory of 'The History of Academy City' was a little hazy… and with that I meant he didn't remember one single thing about it.

"SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

**Epilogue:**

"Are you ready Kamijou?"

"Almost Fukiyose…"

It was around noon of the 24th of December. Kamijou Touma gave one last tug to the bandage wrapped around his arm to make sure it was fastened properly. He was going to a party where none other than Suzumiya Haruhi was going to be present so he couldn't afford to take any risks.

"There! Let's go."

"Ok, now get in line."

He took a look around to see Academy City behind him, then at his classmates lining up to get into the bus that would take them to the train station.

"Hey Kamiyan! You can skip line with us if you… Ouch!"

He cringed at the sound of Aogami getting his cheek tweaked by Fukiyose.

"Absolutely not! We spent nearly a whole week planning for this thing and I'm not going to let you ruin it by creating chaos."

She let go of him and then the boy with the blue hair just raised his shoulders towards Kamijou as a way of apologizing, he responded by waving his hand.

"Touma… Are you sure you packed all the ingredients?"

He looked to his side and noticed Index standing beside him, she looked surprisingly calm.

"Yep! I even had Fukiyose check everything twice before we left the city."

"Kamijou! I appreciate you trust me to keep your clumsiness in check, but you must learn to take care of things by yourself!"

The boy made a quick hand gesture to Fukiyose who was too busy taking care of loading their baggage into the bus to notice.

"So I'm sure everything is fine."

"That's good Touma, I bought some meat and potatoes for the hot pot with the money you gave me and I can't wait to…"

"I brought some burgers…"

Then Kamijou noticed that Himegami Aisa was standing to his other side. Neither him nor the little nun were surprised by her sudden appearance though, as it was something they had gotten used to by now.

"Won't that go bad during the trip? I heard lamb is pretty delicate."

Himegami seemed puzzled by his remark.

"Lamb? No, I brought meat burgers and I packed them in a portable ice chest so they should be fine…"

"Oh I see…"

Kamijou barely had time to sigh before he noticed a tiny bit of drool in the corner of Himegami's mouth, it was a little but it was definitely there.

"Lamb burgers though… I'd love to try that."

"I'm sure you'll love them."

"What's wrong? Did Aisa bring lamb to the pot?"

And of course when somebody mentioned food, the little nun just had to enter the conversation.

"No, but Kamijou was telling me they must be great."

"Seriously Touma? We should try them sometime!"

A little bit of cold sweat went down Kamijou's forehead as he knew he would be the one paying those, but still… how could he refuse?

"Sure, I know a place… I hope they still sell them."

"Thank you Kamijou-kun."

"Thank you Touma."

He nodded as both girls gave him a smile of thanks.

"Lamb burgers…"

Ever since he came back to this world 4 days ago Kamijou had felt a little uncomfortable. Mainly because everyone acted as if he never left. It wasn't because he had to act as if remembered, that was nothing new to him and to make things easier for him, nothing of interest seemed to have happened during that time.

The thing that bothered him was how everybody else went on as if nothing had happened, and it would be correct to say that it was thanks to this incident that it finally dawned on him just how powerful Suzumiya Haruhi actually was.

Someone who could control reality like that was simply something that was beyond his comprehension, how could a being like that even be allowed to exist…? And the worst part was that according to what he talked with the boy from North High over she wasn't even responsible for this incident.

Kamijou wanted to ask him more about that but he refused and told him he would explain himself personally during the party… Not something the boy with the imagine breaker had trouble accepting.

"Kamijou! Get in the bus!"

Kamijou Touma snapped back to reality when he noticed it was time to board the bus. He knew this incident was far from over, that there would be more trouble to come in the future, and he might have to be the one to face them should the time come, but…

"At least I can have some time to enjoy everyone's special hot pot right?"


End file.
